The Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC), has declared that the era of election rigging is over and that the will of the people will count in the June 18 Ekiti State gubernatorial election.
The Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in Ekiti State, Dr. Adeniran Tella, said this in Ado Ekiti, yesterday, during a courtesy call on the office of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, (NUJ), Ekiti Council.
The Ekiti State REC said the Commission has put in place measures to stem electoral vices, noting that technologically-advanced tools have been introduced to ensure that the electorates elect the candidate of their choice.
He also added that INEC has put in place a mechanism where these vices can be contained, which in turn will restore sanity to the electoral process.
In his words, “On June 18, we are going to conduct an election here in Ekiti, and it will be credible and transparent. We will give our people the opportunity to choose who will determine their lives. We are going to work with relevant agencies to bring whoever that is trying to forment trouble to book.
“The era has gone when people would just sit somewhere and cook up figures and say this is what they have seen; it is impossible now. It is the people that will determine who becomes governor in Ekiti and nothing more”.
Tella further revealed that the electoral body has created additional polling units to ensure that every eligible citizen of the State participates in the process.
He cautioned the various political parties to refrain from utterances or actions that will heat up the polity, while pleading with the electorate to avail themselves during the claims-and-objections exercise.
In his response, the NUJ Chairman, Ekiti Council, Comrade Rotimi Ojomoyela, assured the electoral body of its continued support, noting that they have been a major stakeholder in the electoral system.
He enjoined INEC to seek adequate ways of ensuring that quacks and fake news peddlers don’t infiltrate the system during the poll, by availing the union the responsibility of accreditation of journalists.
