Osun 2022: INEC Tasks Stakeholders on Credible Election

Yinka Kolawole

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has appealed to stakeholders in the oncoming governorship election in Osun State to work towards the conduct of a successful Osun governorship election.

The appeal was made yesterday by INEC’s Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Professor Abdulganiy Olayinka Raji, who made it known that 18 political parties have nominated governorship candidates for the election. He, however, declined to mention their names.

Raji, who spoke yesterday at a stakeholders meeting on the devolution of the continuous voters registration (CVR) exercise to registration areas (RAs/Wards) in Osun, said that the election has been scheduled for Saturday, July 16, adding that the commission had embarked on various activities  to ensure a successful conduct of the governorship election.

He said that these activities included conversion of voting points to polling units to decongest existing pooling units and ease voting processes on the day of the election.

He added that 753 voting points were successfully converted to substantive polling units in 2021. 

Raji remarked that the main purpose was to ensure that un-served and under-served voting public due to new settlements, relocations and young Nigerins that attained the age of 18 years were all taken care off.

According to him, “despite the effort of the commission, members of the public have not taken advantage of this opportunity by either registering in these new polling units or transferring their voting rights to the pooling units nearest to their residence.”

The commission boss noted that the implication of this was that the existing polling units would still be congested leading to long queues of voters on the election day but noted that this could be addressed if the stakeholders would assist the commission to inform the public to register or transfer to these new pooling units to avoid zero polling units in Osun State.

The REC, however, acknowledged that conducting a free, fair, credibly acceptable, all-inclusive and conclusive election is quite an arduous task but assured that the commission is working round the clock to ensure that adequate and water tight security is provided for all to exercise their franchise with ease. 

He said: “Undoubtedly, we cannot achieve a seamless and successful election without the cooperation of all stakeholders. We, therefore, solicit for your unalloyed support and genuine advice on every aspect of our operations. We all have crucial roles to play to ensure a peaceful and credible outcome, which will further affirm the maturity of our electoral process in particular and our democracy in general.”

He also re-assured stakeholders that INEC is much more committed to providing a level playing field for all candidates and political parties partaking in the forthcoming election.

The commissioner pointed out that to “serve as an independent effective election management body (EMB) committed to the conduct of free, fair and credible election for sustainable democracy in Nigeria and core values such as: autonomy, transparency, integrity, credibility, impartiality, dedication, equity, excellence and team work.” 

He then assured that the commission would also do everything within the ambit of the law to ensure that people’s votes count.