Party thugs, political parties, religious extremists, cultists and other armed groups have been identified as the major factors that pose security threats to the forthcoming Edo elections; with traditional institutions, the media, INEC and the judiciary as other factors that could also pose as threats come the 19th of September.
This revelation was made as Mr Oluwole Ojewale, unveiled the major findings by the CLEEN foundation after a survey done on ‘Security threat assessment of the 19th September 2020 governorship election in Edo State’
Mr Ojewale who is the assistant programme manager, research and strategy development with the CLEEN foundation who made his presentations during a virtual training of accredited observers for the 2020 governorship elections in Edo state, regretted that elections in Nigeria were usually characterised by tension and fear.
He maintained that peaceful elections would only be possible if all political actors play by the rules, INEC maintains high levels of professional standards and if there is non partisanship in the deployment and performance of security agents.
Oluwole urged all observers especially the media to be at the top of their game and impartially report proceedings from all the wards of the state where they would be posted.
Mr Gabriel Akinremi, a Senior Information Communication technology officer with the foundation, trained the observers using a mobile application known as `Cleen App’.
He said that the App could be downloaded from either Google play store on Android devices.
He advised the observers to be well equipped with internet facility, well charged cell phones battery, availability of power banks for backups and telephone call cards for making emergency phone calls.
