20th June, 2014
GBENRO ADESINA, SIMON ATEBA & NKRUMAH BANKONG-OBI/ADO-EKITI
Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC) has called on the residents of Ekiti State to come out tomorrow and exercise their franchise saying that the heavy security in the state is not meant to intimidate but to protect the voters.
At a press conference held about 6pm Friday , the state commissioner, Alhaji Hussaini Halilu Pai said that INEC entered into partnership with all the security operatives in the country because of their determination to ensure that the election is hitch free.
Assuring free, fair and credible election, Pai said that 1900 local and foreign observers were accredited to monitor the election stressing, “We have to do this because we do not have anything to hide.”
Pai clarified controversies surrounding the eligible voters in the state saying that out of 732,166 registered voters, 476,870 representing 64.98 percent accredited voters have collected their permanent voters’ cards.
“Nobody, no electorate will be allowed to vote without permanent voter’s card”, he added.
According to him, all the electoral materials including sensitive materials have been distributed to all the local government areas pointing out that there are 2195 polling units in the state.
The commissioner expressed satisfaction with the large turnout of the newsmen saying, “We want the election to be fully covered. But we implore our newsmen to ensure that their reports are accurate. We don’t want sensationalism or reports that will hit up the polity.”
He said that the result of the election would be collated and announced at the INEC headquarters in Ado-Ekiti, urging the media not to announce any other result.