The inspection of documents pertaining to the Edo State governorship election in 2024 has been placed on indefinite hold by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) due to intermittent shooting and altercations between the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC) supporters.
The disturbance on Thursday allegedly resulted in gunfire from suspected thugs at INEC’s Benin office. According to reports, multiple people were shot during the altercation near the Ikpoba River, which is approximately 700 meters away from the INEC building.
The inspection was initially set to begin on Wednesday, but it was postponed because of opposition from the APC, which insisted that the voter registration should be used as the starting point for the procedure instead of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), which the PDP had been granted access to by the tribunal.
The APC stated that they were not prepared because they got the inspection schedule just minutes before the exercise was scheduled to start. APC Chairman Jarrett Tenebe filed a petition to the INEC Director of Operations on Thursday, just before the inspection was set to start.
In it, he claimed that voter registration forms and BVAS machines had been unlawfully transported into the INEC facility in cars owned by the Edo State Government.
PDP representatives rejected this argument, claiming that it did not supersede a legitimate court order and that the inspection should go forward as scheduled. For security considerations, INEC decided to postpone the inspection indefinitely due to the growing tensions and ongoing arguments.
The APC’s Victor Ohionsumua said that the party would only come back if their petition was resolved. Comrade Kelly Ogbaloi, the factional chairman of the Labour Party in Edo, expressed concerns about the disorderly atmosphere, stating that the setting was inappropriate for such a significant procedure.
To guarantee a just and respectable election process, he underlined the necessity of level playing fields. It was not possible to get PDP officials to remark on the state of affairs.
