The Independent National Electoral Commission in Lagos has assured stakeholders that it will conduct credible elections.
The Lagos state Resident Electoral Commissioner, Mr. Sam Olugbadebo Olumekunmni, who met with election stakeholders in Lagos on Tuesday, said all was set for the commencement of the 2019 elections.
He said, “In Lagos State, elections will be held in 69 constituencies – one presidential constituency, three senatorial constituencies, 24 House of Representatives, one gubernatorial constituency and 40 state assembly constituencies.
“In the just released list of candidates by the Commission for the first phase of the 2019 general elections in the state, we have 79 candidates vying for the Presidential seat, 51 candidates for the Senatorial seats and 250 candidates for House of Representatives seats. You will agree with me that this is the highest number of candidates in our political history.”
Speaking on security, he maintained that security remained a key issue in our elections. The REC said, “Fortunately, the Commission has a mechanism for discussing election security through the Inter Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES), involving all security agencies in the country. With the assistance of this group, we have successfully mapped out the flash points in the state.
“To enhance the performance of the security agencies, the Commission, in conjunction with ICCES, has trained security personnel for election duty, while a security deployment plan is being finalised with the security agencies to secure the election.”
