Edo Election: Air Force begins airlifting voting materials

By : Odita Sunday, Abuja

Date: 18 September 2024 4:36pm WAT

[files] An official of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) count votes cast after the Edo State governorship elections in Benin City, Midwestern Nigeria, on September 19, 2020. - Hundreds of thousand voters gathered at the polls in Edo State, Midwestern Nigeria to elect a new governor or re-elect the incumbent governor, Godwin Obaseki of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for a second term, the first elections in Africa's most populous country amidst coronavirus pandemic. (Photo by PIUS UTOMI EKPEI / AFP)

The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) has commenced the airlift of election materials for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to Benin, Edo State, ahead of the upcoming governorship election scheduled for September 21, 2024.

Air Force spokesman, Group Captain Kabiru Ali, said this move is part of a broader effort to ensure timely and secure delivery of sensitive materials necessary for the smooth conduct of the elections. He hinted that the airlift operation demonstrates the collaboration between NAF and INEC, aimed at facilitating logistics and ensuring a peaceful election process in Edo State.

Recall that the Chief of the Air Staff (CAS), Air Marshal Hasan Bala Abubakar, during a recent meeting with the INEC Chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, reiterated NAF’s commitment to providing airlift for the swift movement of electoral materials.

“This is in fulfilment of NAF’s constitutional responsibility of providing Military Aid to Civil Authority,” he said.