TAIWO GBADEGESHIN
CIN SPECIAL
EKITI DECIDES 2018 : WE WILL NOT TAKE SIDES WITH ANY PARTY – INEC EKITI
BY DOKTORSQUARED
The Independent National Electoral Commission INEC has vowed to conduct a free and fair election in Ekiti in the forthcoming Governorship election in the State.
Speaking in an interview with Citizen Information Network, the Head of Voters Education, INEC in Ekiti State, Mr Taiwo Gbadegeshin pointed out efforts being made by the commission in ensuring a smooth, free and fair election in Ekiti State.
“The commission in Ekiti has embark on series of activities towards ensuring that we midwife a free, fair, credible, transparent and acceptable election come July 14, 2018 in Ekiti State.
“The honorable Commissioner in Ekiti State, Prof. Abduganiyu Raji, had met with the traditional institutions and has assigned them with the duty of ensuring that they appeal to their subjects to ensure a crisis free election in the State.
“We didn’t leave out the Security operatives, we meet with all security agencies from all areas both local and urban on a regular basis to ensure we fine tune areas we believe are FLASHPOINTS
“We conducted the primaries successfully, there were a few glitches, but we were able to monitor the process and at the end of the day, we have 35 Candidates from 35 political parties vying for the seat of governorship in Ekiti State.
On the 299 Flashpoints declared in the State earlier, Mr. Gbadegeshin took out time to explain the term and also talked about the impact of the Flashpoints towards the forthcoming election.
“Flashpoints are areas we believe we may likely encounter crisis. These are areas we’ve been experiencing disorder for some time now, but we have security in place, and we believe with that covered, we will not experience any challenges during the election.”
Youth Corp members have been earmarked to be used as Electoral officers for the election. Mr. Gbadegeshin buttressed on the need to use Corp members. According to him, it is a policy decision and also revealed that the INEC has been training the Corp members for more than six (6) weeks as opposed to the regular three (3) day norm they use to prepare. This he said will help get the Corp members acquainted with the process and carry out their duties with aplomb.
“It is a policy decision and it should be strictly followed. Towards ensuring that we have Corp members that will have good control of the process, the commission in Ekiti State introduced a concept referred to as “root training”.
“We have been on the root training for the past 6 weeks, and the essence is to recruit and train the Corp members that will participate in the process at the initial stages of their camping.
“We have been to the Camps to train them and because of the memorandum of understanding that the INEC has with the NYSC (National Youth Service Commission), we have taken permission from the NYSC to allow the periods of community development program be used by us to train Corp members. This is contrary to the three (3) days training program we’ve been having in the past. We want them to be conversant with the materials and the forms that by the time they have completed the training, they would have been more acquainted with the processes involved in the election.
“On our part, we are going to be transparent and open, and we are not going to take sides with any political party or candidate.”
Mr. Gbadegeshin went further to explain the situation of the permanent Voters Card (PVC) registration and collection in the State.
“We have registered over nine hundred thousand (900,000) eligible voters, but we’ve not been able to collect more than five hundred (500) PVC’s.
We need to commend the turnout for collection of PVC’s in recent times and I am sure before the election commences, more PVC’s would have been collected.
He called on the public to work hand in hand with INEC to ensure an itch free election.
“Much as we are willing to stand by our words, we also plead to the public to allow peace to reign. They should cooperate with us and alert us on things going on in their communities.
“We wouldn’t have identified all the 299 Flashpoints in the state without the help of the public. We are still appealing to them to work hand in hand with us because it is a collective responsibility towards ensuring that we consolidate our democratic process in Nigeria.”
CIN