A political pressure group under the auspices of Ekiti K’oya Movement, has said granting constitutional backing to the use of electronic gadgets for the conduct of the June 18 governorship poll in Ekiti State would check alleged plans by the ruling All Progressives Congress to rig the election and subvert the will of the people.
The group appealed to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to use Ekiti not only for the implementation of the new law assented to last week by President Muhammadu Buhari, but as a template for the conduct of credible polls in the country.
A statement, on Sunday, by the group’s spokesman in Ado Ekiti, Jamiu Adeyanju, saluted President Buhari for assenting to the new Electoral Law.
He stated that signing had given Ekiti voters a respite and boosted their expectations that the Social Democratic Party’s candidate, Engr Segun Oni and the most popular candidate, would emerge victorious in the impending election.
Adeyanju said sanity would now return to the country’s electoral system with the granting of legal backing to the use of Smart Card Readers, electronic transmission of results and total digitisation of electioneering process.
He said: “Consequently, ahead of the June 18, 2022 governorship election in our dear state, we urge INEC to efficiently deploy the application of the new provisions of the Electoral Act to ensure a free, fair, transparent and peaceful election.
“We are aware of the grand plot by the ruling APC to rig the election because of the noticeable lapses in our electoral system. But with this ICT-inclined law, their sinister motives have been aborted and our people can now vote for their preferred candidate, Engr Segun Oni.
“We are encouraged that the new legal framework for elections will help to loud the new sing-song in town among the populace that Ekiti Koya, O To Ge (Enough Is Enough, No More Enslavement) from APC and the People’s Democratic Party”.
Adeyanju added that the people of Ekiti have pitched their tents with Oni of the SDP as the best and only credible alternative among the array of governorship candidates scrambling for the revered seat.
The Ekiti K’oya publicist added that Oni’s solid and robust political and administrative antecedents and the inclusive government he operated during his first tenure between 2007-2010, had endeared him to the electorate, who are eagerly waiting to pay him back for his good deeds.
“We have no doubt that with the assurances from INEC to switch to full operation of the new Act, the people of Ekiti will come en masse to elect Segun Oni of the SDP as their preferred candidate and governor.
“We wish to commend President Muhammadu Buhari over the signing of the Electoral Act 2022 into law. The new law would undoubtedly help to strengthen our democracy and guarantee credible elections and a transparent electoral process.
“The introduction of reformative and progressive clauses in the new electoral act represent a major win for the Independent National Electoral Commission, political parties and the electorate and it will fight voter apathy.”
