The Independent National Electoral Commission has explained that the cost of shifting the 2016 gubernatorial election in Edo state is too heavy for the commission to bear.
Explaining why the commission is ignoring security warnings by the Department of State Services and the Nigeria Police Force to go ahead with the election in a press conference in Benin on Thursday, the National Commissioner in charge of Voter Education and Publicity Committee of INEC, Solomon Soyebi, said the Commission had reached 97 per cent level of preparation.
He therefore said it wont be wise for the commission to shift the poll and start afresh on another date.
He added that the commission will not be “teleguided” and “would not do anything that would mortgage Nigeria’s democracy”.
The police and the DSS had released a joint statement on Wednesday calling for the postponement of the election for security reasons.
Soyebi however told journalists that after considering all the factors, the commission decided that it was better to go ahead with the poll.
With Soyebi’s announcement, Godwin Obaseki of the All Progressives’ Congress is now scheduled to slug it out with Osagie Ize-Iyamu of the Peoples Democratic Party in a test of popularity on Saturday to decide Adams Oshiomole’s successor.
