The ruling All Progressives Congress, Peoples Democratic Party, Social Democratic Party and 13 other political parties are jostling to produce the next governor of Ekiti State in today’s election. The exercise is scheduled to hold across the 2,445 polling units in the 16 local government areas of the state.
The other parties include Accord Party, African Action Congress, African Democratic Congress, Action Democratic Party, All Progressives Grand Alliance, Allied Peoples Movement, Action Peoples Party, Labour Party, New Nigeria People’s Party, National Rescue Movement, Peoples Redemption Party, Young Progressives Party and Zenith Labour Party.
Meanwhile, in a sequel to the signing into law the Electoral Bill, assented to by the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), on February 25, 2022, the Independent National Electoral Commission says it will begin the electronic transmission of results with the Ekiti governorship election. It’s the first election the commission is conducting since the all-important bill became law.
The Act empowers the commission to transmit election results in a way it determines.
Section 50 of the Act reads, “Subject to section 63 of this Act, voting at an election and transmission of results under this Act shall be in accordance with the procedure determined by the Commission.”
Asked if the commission would commence the much-awaited electronic transmission of result with the election, Mr Rotimi Oyekanmi, the Chief Press Secretary to the INEC, Prof Mahmood Yakubu, said in an interview with one of our correspondents, “Yes, the Ekiti governorship election results will be transmitted electronically.
“After the election and completion of the result management procedure at the polling unit, the Presiding Officer would transmit a clear image of the Form EC8A for purposes of collation. This image goes to the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV).
He however noted that there would still be manual transmission of results to complement the electronic option. He added, “The PO (Presiding Officer) will also deliver by hand, the hard copy of the Form EC8A and the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System to the Registration Area Collation Officer.”
749,065 voters to elect new gov
Meanwhile, only about 749,065 voters will elect the next governor of the state. The figure is the number of registered voters who had, as at Monday, collected their permanent voter cards from INEC. There are 988,923 registered voters in the state.
As part of efforts to ensure a smooth election, the joint team of security agencies deployed for the election for the second day embarked on a show of force round Ado-Ekiti, the state capital, on Friday.
The team which lined up two Armoured Personnel Carriers and 13 trucks conveying personnel of Nigerian Army, police and Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps, moved from the police headquarters to major streets of Ado Ekiti, thus causing heavy traffic along the routes, just as police helicopters engaged in aerial surveillance.
While the police deployed 17,374 personnel, the Nigeria Civil Defence and Security Corps deployed 9,747 personnel, in addition to the heavy deployment of men of the Nigerian Army. The Federal Fire Service also brought into the state men and fire-fighting trucks for the election.
IGP assures of adequate security, restricts vehicular movement
Meanwhile, the Inspector-General of Police, Usman Alkali Baba, on Friday ordered the restriction of vehicular movements within the state particularly along the entry and exit points with effect from 12am on Saturday to 6pm.
The IGP, who spoke through the Deputy Inspector General of Police in charge of the election, Babatunde Kokumo, said, “To this end, operatives of the Nigeria Police Force and the military as well as other security agencies have been deployed across the state borders to enforce the restriction order and ensure criminal-minded individuals do not infiltrate the state and cause mayhem during, before and after the election.
“We are also statutorily charged with the responsibility of securing INEC personnel, electoral materials and other critical assets of the commission as well as the electorate and the local and international observers.
“In carrying out our duties under the Electoral Act, we should be mindful not to abandon our routine, primary mandate of guaranteeing security within the public space so that criminal elements do not feast on our electoral engagement to have space for their heinous crimes.”
Also, NSCDC Acting Deputy Commandant General, Operations, Lawal Haruna, said the corps deployed 9,747 personnel drawn from the Federal Capital Territory, Lagos, Ondo, Ogun, Osun, Oyo, Kogi, Kwara and Edo commands to provide security during the election.
He said some flashpoints had already been identified and that information regarding violence-prone areas had been shared with other security agencies involved in the election. He said two personnel of the corps would be in each polling unit.
Source punchng
