The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Mahmood Yakubu, has revealed that the commission would involve the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission to checkmate financial inducement during the June 18 governorship election in Ekiti State.
Yakubu who lamented the vote-buying syndrome in the nation’s electoral system noted that the commission would do everything possible to protect the sanctity of the votes for the people to decide the next governor of the state without any form of inducement.
The INEC boss spoke in Ado-Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital, on Tuesday, during a meeting with the State Council of Traditional Rulers ahead of the governorship election.
According to him, “I want to assure every registered voters in Ekiti State that their votes we count, they should come out and vote for their preferred candidate.
“We are going to take steps jointly with the EFCC and the ICPC to ensure that this sad trend of using money to bribe voters does not mar the Ekiti election as we have seen in the recent elections by the political parties themselves.”
Yakubu revealed that the commission will conduct the governorship poll alongside the botched House of Assembly bye-election in Ekiti East Constituency 1, assuring the people that the commission has learnt lessons from previous elections and would deliver perfect election in the state.
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He said: “We would still return to interact with other critical stakeholders on how to have a peaceful election in Ekiti. The atmosphere now for the conduct of the 2022 election is so calm, unlike what we had in 2018.
“I asked myself what has changed, I was told the royal fathers had been working hard to ensure that the situation is calm and I could see it is really very calm.
“In this election, there will be two ballot boxes in Ekiti East constituency 1, because they will elect their assembly representative together with the governor. There will be 16 political parties for the governorship election to take place across the 2,445 polling units, but only five political parties for the bye-election in Ekiti East.
“The number of registered voters in Ekiti is 989, 202 and PVCs collection is about 74 per cent. We expect the stake to go higher because people are still collecting their PVCs. Let me say that we are ready for the election. We have recruited ad hoc staff and they are being trained.”
The INEC boss added that the Bimodal Voters Accreditation System (BVAS) invention had faced the use of rigging-prone incidence forms and the malfunctioning Smart Card readers, for the conduct of elections.
“The BVAS had been introduced and with this, smart card readers had been fully retired. As far as technology is concerned, there will be a seamless and fantastic election in Ekiti. There was a mock accreditation here on Monday across three local government areas state and the machine worked 100 per cent.
“Where the machine is unable to get the fingerprints, we will get the facial appearance of the voter. There won’t be an incidence form, we have abolished incidence form as well. INEC is not a political party. We don’t have a candidate and all we want is to leave who leads Ekiti in the hands of the citizens and that we shall achieve.
“So, we appeal to our traditional rulers to preach peace. The atmosphere is peaceful and we want it to remain until the election is concluded. I assure you that the election will be credible, don’t doubt the neutrality of INEC,” he said.
Responding, the Chairman, Ekiti State Council of Traditional Rulers and Onisan of Isan-Ekiti, Oba Ayodele Adejuwon praised INEC for the voting registration exercise it had undertaken in the state, saying this would help in widening citizens’ participation in the exercise.
He assured the commission that traditional rulers in the state would continue to educate the people on the need to vote during the election and shun any forms of violence.
On his part, the Alawe of Ilawe-Ekiti and immediate past chairman of the council, Oba Adebanji Alabi, tasked INEC with the need to tackle the excessive monetisation of the electoral process, adding that voters should be allowed to vote for their preferred candidate in the June 18 election without inducement.
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