By Dipo Olowookere
A Yoruba socio-cultural group known as Yoruba Revolutionary Assembly (YORA) has described the conduct of last Saturday’s governorship election in Ekiti State as a milestone in the journey for the advancement of democracy in Nigeria.
A statement issued by the organisation on Monday in Lagos after its executive meeting applauded the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for meeting the aspiration of the people of Ekiti State for a free and fair election devoid of violence and manipulation.
According to the Secretary General of the group, Prince Joseph Olarinde, who was present in Ekiti State during the election, INEC, under the leadership of Professor Mahmood Yakubu, has demonstrated an unprecedented level of professionalism, judging by the deployment of electoral material and personnel by the commission earlier than the commencement time in most polling stations during the election.
The group said though there were few hitches on the part of the INEC, in respect of few cases of non-functioning Voters card readers, it insisted that the election was among the freest and fairest ever to be conducted by the commission.
The July 14, 2018 Ekiti governorship election was won by the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Dr Kayode Fayemi, who defeated candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mr Kolapo Olusola-Eleka.
“We wish to state for the sake of emphasis that we are satisfied with the overall conduct of INEC during the elections, especially in the discharge of the duties of its officials at the polling units and collation centres.
“Overall, our observation indicated that 86 percent of our people rated the performance of INEC agents in the Ekiti governorship election as very good,” the group said.
Meanwhile, the group has called for further inter-agency collaboration to enhance the work of INEC as the commission prepares for the 2019 general elections.
The group said the feat attained by INEC in Ekiti can only be sustained if other stakeholders such as the security agencies, the National Orientation Agency (NOA), civil society organisations and the media support the commission’s efforts in delivering free, fair and credible elections.
The group also said it would be engaging the people of the southwest region in public enlightenment on the dangers of vote trading on the credibility of elections and prospect of good governance, advising that security agents and political parties to show more commitment in curbing vote trading and voters’ inducement during future elections.
