Electoral violence in Ekiti worries INEC –REC

Is INEC not worried by the spate of attacks among supporters of various political parties participating in the Ekiti governorship  election?

The spate of violence and attacks during rallies and campaign is really a matter of concern to us at INEC, but we know that violence is a characteristic of elections in Nigeria. Politicians always devise strategies to outsmart each other especially during campaigns and elections. But there are provisions of the Electoral Act that guide campaigns and rallies and if our political parties and candidates adhere to these rules, attacks will not occur. For example, there is a section that forbids politicians to use abusive language and insinuations. Campaigns should be strictly on issues. During a campaign, you are not allowed to carry weapons. Also, there are places where you are not supposed to campaign. Campaigns are not allowed at  places of worship like churches  and mosques. People in masquerades

are not supposed to be used for campaigns. All these provisions are there and we, in INEC, will continue to admonish politicians to play the game according to the rules. On the one hand,  the violent attacks are a source of concern  to us but on the other hand, they are not because we have measures put in place to ensure that the election is free of violence and I am assuring everybody that the election will be free, fair and credible. Recently,  the Inter Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security for Ekiti State, which has the commissioner of police, the director of Department of State Security and heads of other security agencies met with the candidates and the leaders of all the political parties to remind them of the provisions in the Electoral Act. It is not as if they are not aware of the provisions but as I said earlier, it is a strategy devised by politicians to outsmart one another.

Has INEC done anything to enlighten voters on the proper ways to  cast their votes in order to reduce the number of void ballots?

The high number of void ballots in election is a matter of concern to us but we are also addressing that through massive voter education at all levels. We have had stakeholders’ meetings with all segments of the society. We have had voter education sessions with  okada riders, drivers, artisans and others  to enlighten them on how to ensure that their ballots are not rendered invalid.  Particularly, we have called on the National Orientation Agency to do the same in order to achieve this goal of ensuring that we have less number  of void votes.

Are you aware of the claim by some parties that some persons are going about copying identification numbers on voters’ cards in order to clone them with the aim of causing  crises on election  day?

It is possible that some people are trying to fake these  voters’ cards. We all know that some people like to achieve their goals through various fraudulent means.  We are aware that we have fraudulent people around but we are not going  to allow their plans to work.  I will not say that some people are not going to try to fake the cards but I can assure you that anybody who presents a fake voter’s card would be turned down and security agents would be asked to take over the case. INEC deployed special technology in the production of these cards and they have special security features. It will be very difficult for these cards to be faked and much more difficult for the faking to succeed. What I mean is that people can fake the cards but this will be easily detected. Although we are not going to use card reader for this election in Ekiti State but in 2015, INEC will use it. Unless you produce a genuine voter’s card, the card reader machine will reject your voters’ cards if it is fake. We are not going to accept any voter’s  card except the ones produced by INEC. If they fake the cards, they can’t fake the voters registers. After all, the only photographs which will be in our register are the photographs of the real owners of the cards who are registered by INEC and anybody who brings a card whose photo does not  tally with the photo on the register will be rejected.

Are we not going to have another inconclusive election in Ekiti State as the recent polls in Anambra and Ondo states were inconclusive?

No, we are not going to have an inconclusive election  in Ekiti  State. Sometimes, elections become violent  when adequate  preparations are not made, coupled with the non-compliance of candidates and political parties and their supporters to simple guidelines. On our part, we are prepared. We are doing all that we need to do. We are firming up our voters register and  you know that the credibility of any election  depends largely on how credible the voters  register is. Sometimes, if there are many people who are disenfranchised during election, that causes violence which may lead to an inconclusive election. On the part of the politicians and their followers, we have met at all levels and we will continue to meet them until the time of the election.  What I will tell our people is to have confidence in the electoral body. What happened in Anambra  and Ondo states should not be used to conclude that Ekiti election will be inconclusive. People should not  conclude that Ekiti election will be inconclusive  since it happened in Anambra State and it happened in Ondo State. Every election is unique and, therefore, it should be seen like that.  The first thing is for the people to have confidence in INEC that the election in Ekiti this time around will be free, fair, credible and acceptable to all.

Omission of parties logo had led to cancellation of election results. Have you taken your time to ensure that everything is in order?

Let me say that we have 18 political parties which have shown interest to participate in this election and we have published their names and other information about them. Anybody who has any objection or claim on anything concerning this had been given seven days within which to raise their objections.  Having said that, the technology which INEC continues to deploy,  is in progression.  The amount of information we have  ahead of time is enough for us to plan and get all these 18 parties fully captured in our ballot papers. So, I want to allay the fear of the parties that we are not going to miss out any of their names or logos.

Some officials especially National Youth Service Corps members are sloppy during election due to inexperience. How would INEC address this?

We are continuously training our staff and ad hoc staff. We know that the lack of training  of ad hoc staff, to an extent, affects the conduct of an election. Sometimes, these ad hoc staff, I mean the NYSC members, mess up the conduct of election. What they are supposed to do, they don’t do it well at times and that brings about agitation right from the polling units. Therefore, the credibility of such an election is eroded and people would begin to cast aspersions on the INEC. To address this, we have now developed a seven-week training in addition to the three-day training we usually give ad hoc staff prior elections.  Those who would be deployed to the polling units are given this training for seven weeks to acquaint them with all they need to know and do during elections.  The assignment of the  polling clerks is the most critical aspect of the electoral process because anything that happens at the polling units will have ripple effect on the higher level. It is from the polling unit that we’ll go to the ward level, thence the constituency; and to the local government and the state level.