The chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Mahmood Yakubu, has disclosed that four national Commissioners and eight resident electoral commissioners have been deployed to Ekiti State ahead of the Saturday’s governorship election in the state.
Yakubu who said that sensitive materials for the election have arrived at the state headquarters of the commission in preparation for inspection by the political parties added that INEC is putting everything in place to deliver credible and acceptable poll on Saturday.
The INEC boss spoke on Tuesday in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital during the election stakeholders’ forum which had in attendance participating governorship candidates, representatives of security agencies, civil societies and other stakeholders.
While assuring the stakeholders that votes of the Ekiti electorate would count on election, he said that a total of 749, 065 voters representing 76 per cent have collected their Permanent Voter Cards(PVCs) from the 988,923 registered voters in the state.
According to him, “Let me assure political parties and voters that the task of electing a new governor will be left in the hands of Ekiti voters. We won’t take any action that would put any party and candidate in a vantage position. We are going to do everything according to the constitution and provisions of the Electoral Act.
“To underscore how prepared we are, we have provided magnifying glasses and brale ballot papers for visually impaired citizens while the Bimodal Voters Authentication System Machines(BVAS) will be used for accreditation.
“We are not unaware that vote-buying is a destroyer of the electoral process. To show how determined we are to stop this menace, we have changed the configuration of the ballot boxes and cubicles in all polling units to prevent vote-buying.
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“We are also partnering the operatives of ICPC and EFCC to deploy their men and deal with vote buyers and sellers according to the law.”
Yakubu disclosed that the results of the election would be transmitted electronically through the commission’s result portal, calling on the political parties to register and, ” be able to have idea of the election results even before the official announcement because we will upload in record time.”
Speaking, the Inspector General of Police, Usman Alkali Baba has clarified that the heavy deployment of 17,317 police operatives in the state, was not intended to scare voters and cause apathy on election day but to stop the election from being disrupted by political thugs.
Baba stated that the deployment was geared toward protecting the sanctity of the ballots and make the outcome of the election credible and acceptable to all stakeholders, urging all the candidates to reign in their supporters on the need to maintain peace.
The IGP said no individual with invidious and parochial interest would be allowed to vitiate the outcome of the election, through violence, vote-buying and other actions that can taint the credibility of the poll.
He said: “All the 177 wards and 2,445 polling units will be manned by appropriate manpower. Let me say this, the massive deployment is not to scare the citizens, but to protect the sanctity of the ballots and the provisions of the Electoral Act.
“Those who want to constitute a clog in the will of progress will face the consequences of their actions. National security should be of priority and uppermost in our minds. Let us conduct this election in the most civil manner.
“All the parties must embrace the virtues of democracy. We will not allow any person or group of persons to disrupt this election no matter how highly placed. Let all the contenders provide the moral leadership so that we can achieve success together.”
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Guber poll: INEC deploys 4 national commissioners, 8 RECs as sensitive materials arrive Ekiti
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