Ondo: No one will benefit from impunity, INEC chair warns politicians
By Tunde Opalana
*Says smart card reader compulsory for accreditation, z- pad deployment okayed
Governorship candidates and members of political parties that will participate in Saturday’s governorship election in Ondo state have been warned to avoid all forms of activities that may disrupt the electoral process as they stand to gain nothing.
Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmood Yakubu said this on Monday at the Ondo governorship election stakeholders’ meeting held in Akure, the state capital.
While assuring that the Commission has taken every step to ensure that the election on Saturday is free, fair, credible, inclusive and safe, he warned that INEC is fully prepared to guide against any act of electoral malpractice and frustrate efforts of perpetrators where illicit activity occured.
He said “the Commission is determined that no one will benefit from impunity or be rewarded for bad behaviour such as vote-buying, ballot box snatching and stuffing, multiple voting, hijacking and diversion of election materials, disruption of collation, falsification of results, attack on INEC officials or compelling them to declare unofficial results”.
Appealing to political parties, candidates and their supporters to ensure peaceful conduct, Yakubu assured that “votes will count. Polling unit level results will be uploaded for public view. However, this will not happen where the process is disrupted by violence or malpractices”.
He further disclosed that INEC has gotten the assurance of security agencies that thugs and their sponsors will not have the freedom to move around freely to disrupt the election or collation of results.
Yakubu reiterated that the Smart Card Readers will also be deployed for voter verification and authentication, as “this is a mandatory requirement”and, but where they are deliberately avoided to undermine the integrity of the electoral process, the result for the affected polling unit will be declared void in line with the Commission’s regulations and guidelines.
To further underscore INEC’s commitment to a credible and transparent electoral process, he said the z-pad technology introduced to upload polling unit level results on a dedicated portal will be deployed for the Ondo guber poll.
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To avoid hitches, the chairman disclosed that the Commission has made arrangements for the movement of personnel and materials to electoral locations in all 3,009 polling units and 203 electoral wards across the State.
He said in response to the unfortunate fire incident in which Smart Card Readers were lost in Ondo State, enough replacements have been moved from Oyo State and configured for the election.
