A local election observer group, Democracy Vanguard, has described last Saturday’s Ekiti state governorship election, as an improvement over previous ones conducted in the state.
It congratulated the governor-elect, Dr. Kayode Fayemi of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the people of Ekiti state for eschewing violence while exercising their franchise.
In a statement on Thursday signed by its state coordinator, Yetunde Adeoluwa, the organization commended the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for conducting a free, fair, credible and conclusive election with an improvement over previous ones.
Adeoluwa said: “The peaceful conduct of the INEC and security agencies during the 14th July 2018 governorship election shows that our democratic process is improving.
“There was no record of ballot snatching, rigging, violence or electoral malpractices, as it was experienced in 2007, while there was no security clampdown compared to 2014. This is highly commendable.
“Despite the fact that the political situation was charged for violence during the campaign, the security agencies were highly coordinated and prevented attempts by some hoodlums to truncate the electoral process.
“The deployment of the 30,000 joint operatives of the Nigeria Police, DSS, Civil Defence, Military and other paramilitary was very effective.”
Adeoluwa advised the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Prof. Kolapo Olusola, to accept defeat in good faith, pointing out that “there is nothing to challenge in court.”
She added: “We at Democracy Vanguard encourage the PDP candidate, Prof. Kolapo Olusola to accept the result in the spirit of sportsmanship.There is nothing to challenge in court because the election was free, fair, credible, and conclusive.
“Similarly, we congratulate the Governor-elect, Dr. Kayode Fayemi on his victory at the polls and also call on him to use his profound pro-democracy background in offering the good people of Ekiti state good governance, devoid of pauperized stomach infrastructure and restore the values of the state.”
The civil society group however reiterated the need for INEC and the police to “prosecute every electoral offender arrested during this election period in line with the law so as to serve as deterrent to others.”
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