INEC Orders Removal of Campaign Materials in Edo State

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Edo State has instructed political parties and their aspirants to remove campaign billboards, posters, and jingles being aired on television and radio stations in the state.

The State Resident Electoral Commissioner, Anugbum Onuoha, disclosed this during an Inter-agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES) meeting in Benin.

INEC stated that the directive was issued because the ban on election campaigns had not been lifted.

The ICCES meeting, co-chaired by the state INEC REC and the state Commissioner of Police, Funso Adegboye, was attended by heads of other security agencies in the state.

Onuoha explained, “If you look at the Edo election timetable, it says that the commencement of campaign in public by political parties will be on April 24.

“But what is happening in this state right now is that all the political parties are campaigning in public, not private.

“If you go around the town, you see campaign billboards, posters, and jingles of aspirants, not even candidates.

“We have held a meeting with the Inter-Party Advisory Council Nigeria (IPAC) in Edo on this issue, but they have clearly not stopped.

“So I thought I should bring the issue here for us to proffer collective solutions so that nobody will be accused of supporting party A or B.”