Osun Guber: INEC promises to conduct credible election

Mr Segun Agbaje, the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in Osun, says the Sept. 22 governorship election in the state would be credible.

Agbaje said this on Friday at a programme tagged, ‘Vote Not Fight Campus Town Hall Meeting,’ held at the Osun State University in Osogbo

The programme was organised by an NGO, Kimpact Development Initiative (KIDI).

Agbaje said that the era of rigging elections had passed with the introduction of the enhanced card reader machine.

He said the commission had put in place adequate measures to ensure a credible, free and fair election in the state.

Agabaje, who noted that 48 political parties would participate in the election, said the commission had already sourced for 90 per cent of ad-hoc staff to be used for the election.

He said 8,000 NYSC member would be used as ad- hoc staff out the 15,000 needed, adding that adequate security would also be provided for them.

Agbaje said the ad-hoc staff would be trained and would also take the oath of neutrality before the election.

On the collection of Permanent Voter Cards (PVC), Agbaje said that out of 1,626,383 registered voters, 1,144,273 PVCs had been collected.

He said 524,251 PVCs were yet to be collected.

Agabaje also said that accreditation and voting would be done simultaneously on election day, while the poll itself would commence at 8am and end at 2pm.

He urged the youths not to allow themselves to be used as political thugs before, during and after the election.

Ealier in his remarks, Mr Bukola Idowu, KIDI Executive Director, said the Vote Not Fight Campaign was to promote peaceful participation in the electoral process.

Idowu urged all the political stakeholders, especially the youths, to shun violence during the election.

He said the NGO would continue to campaign against violence during elections, adding that campaign coordinators had been deployed to all the 30 local governments and 332 wards in the state.

Also speaking, Prof. Labode Popoola, the Vice-Chancellor of Osun University, appealed to the youths to shun violence during the election.