Aregbesola Tasks INEC On Free, Fair, Credible Polls In Ekiti, Osun

Governor of Osun State, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola
has said for the Independent National Electoral
Commission (INEC) to be credible in the
forthcoming elections in Ekiti and Osun States, it
must conduct itself in such a way that it will be
difficult to find fault with the commission in the
management of the process.
This was just
as he noted that his bid to contest for a second
term in office is the best way to pursue his
objectives on governance as well as maintaining
the dictate of the constitution to meet his
aspiration for people of the state.
Aregbesola, who made this known yesterday in
a chat with media practitioners in Osogbo, the
state capital, recommended that the voter
register for the elections must be sacrosanct
such that whoever is registered is not denied the
right to vote as was experienced in Anambra
State governorship election.
He also advised INEC to ensure that election
materials are given to those who can manage
the effective distribution of such materials with
the assurance that it would get to polling unit as
expected.
According to him, "For INEC to be seen as
credible, it should ensure that election materials
are not given to people who cannot manage it,
the results as announced at the various centres
are not influenced and that they must be as
they were at the polling units.
"People must be free during the period of
election to exercise their franchise; from the
register to the management of the electoral
materials, process and procedure of voting and
the ultimate declaration of results, there must
be transparency that would satisfied the most
cynical and skeptical Nigerian.
"Once those essentials are met, then INEC will
be out of blame. To guarantee security, the
police and other security agencies must ensure
that nobody takes undue advantage or
manipulate the process".
On the issue of seeking re-election, the governor
stated that if not for the people, he would not
seek to return to office. He argued that before
assuming office, he had a mission of running a
people-centered administration that would give
meaning to the lives of people of the state,
adding that what's he has done with governance
was unprecedented in the history of the South
West state.
According to him, "We have done what most
people claimed has never been done in the
history of the state, we are so people-centered
that it will be difficult for us to abandon the
people mid-stream.
"The best way to pursue our objectives about
governance is to run the whole hug of the
mandate give to us by the constitution and the
people, and that will give us enough time to
meet all our aspiration for the people, therefore,
it is in the interest of the people that we are
seeking re- election".
The governor faulted a system where three
separate arms of government are competing for
their share of whatever is available to the state.
Aregbesola held that the system is wasteful and
that no serious developing nation must consider
it as its own structure of government, adding
that it is out of tune with the African nature.
He also recommended the parliamentary
system of government which he described as
one embodied arm of government.
Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone provided by Airtel Nigeria.