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   The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Prof Mahmud Yakubu, has attributed inconclusive syndrome in the country's elections under his tenure to stiff competition occasioned by strong candidates, violence and innovations in the electoral process.

Yakubu spoke in Abuja at the Situation Room Dialogue with INEC officials and Nigeria Police on Edo State Governorship Election organised by the Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre (PLAC) with the support of British Department for International Development (DFID). He warned politicians and their parties against infiltrating its staff members and adhoc officials of the commission with the aim of manipulating the electoral process in the forthcoming governorship election in Edo.

He said: "We have explained time and time again that the reasons for inconclusive elections are because of strong candidates, very tight margin. Because of the innovations in our electoral process, it is difficult to have landslide that nobody could explain earlier. Now, we know exactly that most of the votes count irrespective of what happens out there."�

The INEC boss said that the commission had noticed that "the politics in Edo State is calm, so far so good. We have no course to believe it will be overheated but you can never tell what politicians can do, es�pecially as the stakes are high, the competition is very strong, the parties have nominated very strong candidates.

"In as much as this is good for democracy, it also gives INEC concern because certainly these are majorly the reasons for our inconclusive elections that keep on recurring. If any polling unit is on the negative side, it is difficult to conclude election with the kind of candidates we have and the strength of the two parties,"� he said.

Represented by INEC's National Commissioner, Hajia Amina Zakari, Prof. Yakubu raised alarm over the extent politicians go in their bid to corrupt electoral officers.

"What I will like to implore on the civil society organisations is to assist INEC to conduct more advocacy; to reach out to the people, particularly on violence, and also on another issue that nobody really wants to talk about, and it is out there: the is�sue of politicians infiltrating our staff members, and even the adhoc personnel that we engage."�

According to him, INEC, the inter-agency consultative commission and security agencies have been committed to credible, fair, free, violent free election in Edo.

The state's Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Sam Olumekun, said that the greatest challenge for the forthcoming elections is security.

"INEC's experience since the general elections of 2015 is that security may have been on the decline. I should therefore shout loudly that perhaps, the biggest challenge we face is that of security.

We must try to balance the imperative of securing the electoral process with the need to allow voters unfettered opportunity to come out and cast their votes without any fear as a result of the presence of security personnel,"� he said.

Rivers' re-run postponement is in state's interest, INEC insists
Meanwhile, INEC has said that its decision to postpone the River state national and state assembly elections was in the interest of the people of the state and Nigeria in general.

The commission said that it was compelled to suspend legislative elections, earlier scheduled for Saturday to rising cases of violence, intimidation and the general atmosphere of fear in the areas where the elections will be conducted.

In a statement signed by INEC's Secretary, Augusta Chinwe Ogakwu, the commission regretted that one of the earlier stipulated conditions for return to the state for the conclusion of the elections had not been met, despite widespread consultations with all major stakeholders.

Ogakwu said: "While the Commission reiterated its readiness to conclude the outstanding elections, it also indicated its readiness to review and reconsider the suggested date as the security situation unfolds in the state."�