INEC promises credible governorship election in Osun

The Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in Osun State, Mr. Segun Agbaje, has assured that the September 22 governorship election in the state would be credible. According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Agbaje gave the assurance yesterday at a programme, tagged, ‘Vote, Not Fight, Campus Town Hall Meeting,’ held at the state university in Osogbo, organised by a non-governmental organisation (NGO), Kimpact Development Initiative (KIDI).

The REC said the era of rigging elections had passed with the introduction of the enhanced card reader machine, as the commission had put in place adequate measures to ensure a credible, free and fair election in the state.

Agbaje, who noted that 48 political parties would participate in the election, said the commission had already sourced for 90 per cent of ad-hoc staff to be used for the exercise, with 8,000 corps members to be used as ad- hoc staff out the 15,000 needed, adding that adequate security would also be provided for them. Agbaje said the ad-hoc staff would be trained and also take the oath of neutrality before the election.

On the collection of Permanent Voter Cards (PVC), he said out of 1,626,383 registered voters, 1,144,273 PVCs had been collected and 524,251 PVCs yet to be collected.
Agbaje also said accreditation and voting would be done simultaneously on election day, while the poll itself would commence at 8am and end at 2pm.He urged the youth not to allow themselves to be used as political thugs before, during and after the election.

Earlier in his remarks, Mr. Bukola Idowu, KIDI Executive Director, said the Vote, Not Fight campaign was to promote peaceful participation in the electoral process and urged all the political stakeholders, especially the youths, to shun violence during the election.He said the organisation would continue to campaign against violence during elections, adding that campaign coordinators had been deployed to all the 30 local governments and 332 wards in the state.Also speaking, the Vice Chancellor of university, Prof Labode Popoola, appealed to the youth to shun violence during the election.