The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Wednesday commended security agencies and civil society organisations for their role in the successful conduct of the governorship election in Edo.

INEC National Commissioner, Mr Ishmael Igbani, gave the commendation in an interview  in Abuja.

He said the two groups rendered selfless service during the conduct of the poll.

He said the commendation was in view of the fact that Edo used to be a volatile state with death-related incidents during elections.

Igbani, who is also the chairman, Election Monitoring and Observation Committee, said “there is no doubt that the political environment in the state before the election was very tense and emotional. “

He said the inability of the country to conduct free, fair and acceptable elections in the past was a source of concern to major stakeholders in the political process.

Igbani criticised the political class, whom, he said, had refused to play by the rules of the game over the years.

He admitted that: “There were issues of logistics during the Edo election but they were just isolated incidents, because it was not that the materials did not get to all the required polling units on time.

“The delay in delivery of electoral materials could be narrowed to a local government area.

“There were justifiable reasons why that happened and INEC was aware. It was due to administrative and operational issues.

Our correspondent recalled that there were reported cases of deficiencies of late arrival of materials, delayed commencement of accreditation and voting and discrepancies in voter registration statistics noticeable during the election.

He said the problem was not due to lack of planning, but it was because materials arrived at remote area first.

He said in Edo the materials arrived on time but the corps members in some of the units particularly in Oredo Local Government Area refused to participate in the exercise.

He said they insisted that their allowances be paid.

Igbani said the problem was between some NYSC members of staff and INEC personnel and that INEC was addressing it adequately to prevent future occurrence.

He said the intervention of INEC officials eased the crisis.

Investigation byour correspondent  revealed that the issues bordered on administrative and operational issues.

It was learnt that some of the Divisional Police Officers (DPOs) were posted to Edo on Thursday and most of them did not get to their stations until almost mid-night on Friday.

A reliable source at INEC said that the policemen already there were waiting for directives from the DPO before leaving for their various beats for the election.

The source said police could not mobilise for a very long time, even though the posting was done with the best of intention by the Inspector General of Police.

According to the source, military men set up series of road blocks and asked for identity cards and security escorts, hence, “if you don’t have them you cannot go.”

The source said there were lots of delays for these reasons, yet the election was free and fair.