Edo election: Don't favour any political party - Group warns police, INEC

The Coalition of Democrats for Electoral Reforms (CODER), a civil society group, has asked political actors in the forthcoming gubernatorial elections in Edo state to shun violence and allow citizens of the state to speak through the ballot.

In a statement signed by the group’s national coordinator, Temitope Shaba and the group’s spokesperson, Comrade Ayodele Adewale, the group acknowledged that there has been unnecessary tension in the state.

It maintained that the tension was caused by the incumbent governor and candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Godwin Obaseki and the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu.

CODER, however, advised against making the bleak pre-election predictions of some groups come to pass while appealing to the feuding parties to sheath their swords for peace sake.

The group also lauded the genuine efforts made by the Oba of Benin to broker peace as well as the position taken by the United States of America and the United Kingdom to checkmate the trend of violence.

It asked security officials especially the Nigerian Police Force to maintain their neutrality, advising the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to also play its role as an unbiased umpire.

“The Nigerian Police Force and other security personnel on election duty must maintain their neutrality and be ready to arrest anyone that commits an electoral offense. INEC, on the other hand, must be seen to play its role as an unbiased umpire in the entire process to increase people’s confidence and trust in both the electoral process and the electoral management body,” the statement read.