Osun election: We have achieved 73 per cent of PVC collection – INEC boss, Mahmood
Prof. Mahmood Yakubu on Monday disclosed that 73 per cent of eligible
voters in Osun State have collected their Permanent Voter Cards in
preparation for the gubernatorial election slated for September 22.
He said the state was setting a pace in Nigeria in terms of number of
political parties participating in the contest, saying 48 parties were
in the race.
Yakubu stated this at the Election Stakeholders Forum on the Osun
Election, held on Monday, in Osogbo, the Osun State capital.
He recalled that guidelines for the election, which comprise 14
activities of the electoral process were released in October 2017,
adding that 12 activities have since been concluded.
According to him, rigorous voter education and town hall meetings were
held to ensure credibility of the process in collaboration with
critical stakeholders like civil society organisations and the rest.
"Our ultimate objective is to ensure that the choice of who governs
the people of Osun in the next 4 years is in the hands of the
electorate.
"Today, malpractices like ballot snatching, ballot stuffing, hijacking
of electoral materials and the rest have been considerably reduced.
"The menace of vote buying is now a new concept in our electoral
system, and I can assure you that the commission will rise to this
challenges.
"I want to make clarification on the use of mobile phones, we are
restricting its usage from the time a voter gets ballot paper and cast
his vote, in which the device will be returned thereafter.
"Obviously, we have been progressively improved on our punctuality to
the polling units, and the same tempo will be sustained in this
contest.
"I want to assure that come Saturday, only the votes cast by voters in
the state will determine who becomes the next governor of the state",
Yakubu said.
The Inspector General of Police, Mr Idris Ibrahim in his address
reiterated the resolve of the force to be impartial by ensuring the
security of voters and other stakeholders before, during, and after
the contest.
He disclosed that a total of 18, 426 police officers would be deployed
to the state, adding that eight commissioners would be in charge of
all area commands in the state.
Meanwhile, the Ooni of Ife, Oba Enitan Ogunwusi has implored voters
and political players alike to strictly adhere to the rule of the
game, and collectively work for the success of the election.
While commending the electoral umpire for working assiduously to
ensure free, fair and credible poll, the monarch admonished security
agencies to live above sentiment and write their names in gold.
No comments
Post a Comment