By Chinonso Alozie

The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Resident Electoral Commissioner, REC, in Imo state, Sylvia Agu, on Wednesday, gave an assurance that the governorship election would be held in all polling units in the state, despite the security challenges in some council areas of Imo.

Agu disclosed this while briefing newsmen on the INEC’s preparedness for the November 11, 2023, Imo governorship elections.

She said the commission was prepared because it had conducted pre-electoral activities as regards the conduct of the Imo governorship election.

Agu said among other things; “It is germane to state at this juncture, that the Commission has conducted all the pre-electoral activities before the November 11 elections within the timeline stipulated by the Electoral Act and election guidelines in a professional, credible and transparent manner.

“Furthermore, the Independent National Electoral Commission in the State has held several stakeholders’ meetings at various levels to dialogue with the stakeholders and collaborate with them towards achieving a successful election.

“Through these meetings, we have sought to strategically engage the security agencies under the auspices of the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES), political parties and their agents, traditional rulers and their executive cabinets, religious leaders and faith-based groups, youths and women groups, organizations of persons with disabilities (PWD), civil society organizations and non-governmental organizations, media executives and journalists, different voter education providers and all who have made monumental contributions in organising and conducting free, fair, credible, inclusive and safe elections in the State.

“The benefit of these partnerships in promoting voter education, voters’ participation, transparency, inclusivity, peace and security throughout the process cannot be overemphasized as the success of an electoral process is a collective effort of all partners and also not a day’s event.”

She further said: “The Commission has conducted the training of staff and a readiness assessment required for the Amber Zone timeline. During the readiness assessment and training which took place in Rockview Hotel Owerri, between Friday 13th to Saturday 14th October 2023, the INEC Election Monitoring and Support Centre (EMSC) hosted the twenty-seven electoral officers and their assistants (Operations), the Heads of departments and State EMSC desk officers.

“The assessment which covered every facet of election preparedness from election security, voter education and publicity, election officials, to the availability of non-sensitive election materials in their right quantities was an objective platform to examine and predict the interactions and outcomes of internal and external factors that might interfere with the peaceful and successful conduct of the elections. Also during the Amber Zone baseline workshop, the election risk reports and identified unique challenges of the various Local Government Areas were collated for proper attention.”

“Similarly, the Red Zone mid-line assessment meeting was held on 30th October 2023 to prepare the key election officials for the November 11 governorship election for the Red Zone which commences on Thursday, 2nd November 2023 and will last until two days after the elections.

“The key objectives of the Election Monitoring and Support Centre (EMSC) in organising the Red Zone meeting are: to assist with the coordination to review activities in collaboration with the State EMSC Secretariat team; ensure all updates including validation by Heads of Departments and challenges as may be reported by the Electoral Officers are captured on the EMSC Amber Zone assessment template and; and to familiarize participants with the Red Zone assessment forms/updates, “Agu said.