The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has disclosed that a total number of 15,000 National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members are to participate in the July 14 Ekiti State governorship election.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) National Commissioner, Prince Adedeji Soyebi, disclosed this on Monday, May 21 while featuring on Ekiti state television (EKTV) programme, Daybreak Nigeria.
Vanguard reports that Soyebi noted that the deployment of the corps members was one of the measures to ensure fairness to all parties and the credibility of the exercise.
He also stressed that the electoral agency was collaborating with security agencies to ensure safety of officials, voters and electoral materials to be used for the poll.
The INEC chief assured political parties and voters that the electoral umpire would be fair to all parties and would deliver an election in line with global best electoral practices.
He urged political parties taking part in the poll to submit the list of their agents in line with the time allowed by law.
Any party that fails to submit the names of its agents on time, according to him, would lose the privilege of being represented at the poll.
Speaking on possibility of electronic voting in Nigeria, Soyebi said,”We are not definitely going to have it 2019 but we will get there very soon.”
Responding to a question, Soyebi said it is possible to conduct all elections in a single day rather than having a staggered process for general elections.
He said: “It is doable but we need to increase our level of voter education and awareness. We can have different colours of ballot papers for each of the election.
“It will save the country of lots of expenses, time, money and manpower. “It is the law that determines the sequence of elections and not INEC.”
Meanwhile, it was reported that the governor of Delta state and chairman of committee for Ekiti state PDP’s primary for the July 14 poll, Ifeanyi Okowa, as well as governor Ayodele Fayose taunted the APC for its botched primary on Saturday, May 5.
Governor Okowa, while announcing the results of the PDP primary on Tuesday, May 8, hailed the contestants and delegates for displaying maturity, pointing out that this had again confirmed that the PDP was truly a democratic party.
His words: “By the power vested in me as the Returning Officer, I hereby return Professor Kolapo Olusola as the duly nominated gubernatorial candidate of the PDP for Ekti state governorship election, having scored the highest number of votes cast in this election.
