Lagos – The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has said that votes will count in the governorship elections in Ekiti and Osun billed for June 18 and July 16 respectively.
Mr Festus Okoye, the INEC National Commissioner in charge of Information, Voter Education and Publicity told newsmen in Lagos on Sunday that both gubernatorial elections will be litmus tests for the 2023 general elections.
Okoye said that preparations were on top gear to deliver free, fair, transparent and inclusive elections both in Ekiti and Osun.
According to him, the commission is not taking anything for granted in the preparations for the polls.
The INEC spokesman said that the commission was confident of the optimal performance of the accreditation machines, the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS).
“We are holding meetings and putting together strategies and tactics of making sure INEC conducts free, fair and transparent elections in both states.
“We are confident that whatever issues there are with the BVAS have been resolved and we are expecting to have a very good accreditation process during both elections.
“Those two elections will be a litmus test as they may likely be only off season governorship elections that we are going to conduct before the 2023 general elections.
“So, we are not taking things lying low. We are preparing and preparing well and we are preparing very hard,” he added.
Okoye said that the new Electoral Act 2022, that had come into force, would strengthen the commission to conduct a very good election.
According to him, because of the creative and innovative approaches INEC has adopted in the conduct of elections, there are so many people in Ekiti and Osun who believe that the votes will count and that the votes will be made to count.
“With the introduction of BVAS people believe that ghosts will not come to vote. People believe that those who have quarantine Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) will not be in a position to use them. So, only the living will cast their votes both in Osun and Ekiti.
“We are putting everything in place to make sure that we conduct a good election in both states. We are preparing for these two elections and we are preparing well,” Okoye added.
The commissioner, who noted that INEC understood that Osun had some riverine areas, said that the commission was in discussion with marine union and Nigerian Navy for logistics and security.
According to him, the commission has also started the process of recruitment of ad hoc staff that will be used for the two elections.
On efforts to prevent recurrent trend of voter apathy in elections during Ekiti and Osun polls, Okoye urged political parties to join hands with the commission in voter mobilisation.
“The conduct of elections and management of elections and ensuring that elections are free, fair, transparent and inclusive are a multi-stakeholders venture.
“No individual, no agency and no commission can do it alone. The main task of voter mobilisation still remains with political parties.
“So, the political parties must mobilise these voters to the polling units because the voters are to vote for them. Parties must do their own bit in term of voter mobilisation.
“Civil society groups and organisations also have a role and a responsibility in this area. The same is with the media and other critical stakeholders,” he said.
Okoye added that it was not the responsibility for INEC to go to rural areas and community to educate the people about the symbols of political parties.
According to him, on the part of the commission, efforts are being made to ensure aggressive sensitisation and mobilisation of voters.
“We have created additional polling units and taking these polling units closer to the people to make sure that people have seamless voting experience on election day.
“We have also made it possible for people to have trust and confidence in the electoral process through the introduction of the BVAS.
“Now people believe that they can go and votes and their votes will count,” he added.
Okoye said that INEC was also going to hold top level security meetings with different security agencies under its auspices of Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES) to also build up confidence in people to come out and vote without fear of violence.
He added: “So, we want a situation where people will go to the polling units with full confidence that nothing bad will happen to them.
‘People must have hope that the electoral management body will do what is right in terms of making sure that the only determinant of who get elected and who does not get elected will revolve around the votes of the people cast at the polling units.
“On our own part, we are going to accelerate in a very aggressive manner, civic and voter education during the Ekiti and Osun governorship elections to make sure that people come out to vote.
“The issue of voter apathy must be tackled headlong and must be a multi-stakeholders aggressive venture. Nigerians must also realise that there is power in the vote and people should also not attempt to sell their votes on election day.
