The Situation Room, a
coalition of over 20 civil society groups, on Friday said it was “deeply
dismayed” at the postponement of the gubernatorial elections in Edo State.
The Situation Room
described the postponement as “part of a disturbing trend in the erosion of
public trust in our public officers, public institutions as well a growing scepticism
about the general direction of our democracy under this administration.”
In a statement by
Clement Nwankwo of Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre, Situation Room said the
security agencies pre-empted INEC when they unilaterally announced their lack
of readiness and made a mockery of the “constitutionally guaranteed
independence” of the electoral body.
“This unfortunate
chain of events raises some serious questions about a possible breach of the
constitutionally guaranteed independence of INEC, the growing overreach of
Security Apparatchiks who effectively in this election have forced their own
electoral timetable on INEC, the good people of Edo State and by extension
citizens of this country,” the statement said.
“We join the pain of
the good people of Edo State over this unwarranted assault on democracy.”
Recall that INEC had on Wednesday postponed the Edo
guber election earlier slated for Saturday 10th september on the grounds of
insecurity.
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