Edo 2020: INEC lifts ban on campaigns, distributes non-sensitive materials

The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, says it has lifted the ban on campaigns by political parties in Edo State ahead of the Sept. 19 governorship election the state.

Mr Timidi Wariowei, the INEC Head of Voter Education in Edo, told the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, in Benin that the campaigns officially commenced on June 21.

“Campaigns have officially started in the state. “Campaigns start 90 days to the election and it started on June 21.”

He also disclosed that the office had taken delivery of some non-sensitive materials and distributed same to the 18 local government areas of the state.

“The reason we distributed materials early is because the office we are occupying now has a small storage capacity. “The storage facility cannot accommodate all the materials, so as the materials come we dispatch to our local government offices. “The non-sensitive materials we have received so far are not complete so as they come in batches we distribute because of lack of space to keep them,” he said.

According to Wariowei, the total number of registered voters as at 2019 is 2,210,534, while uncollected PVCs stand at 483,868.

INEC had cleared and displayed a list of candidates of the 14 registered political parties, including the All Progressives Congress and Peoples Democratic Party as the major contenders in the polls.