The Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission INEC Prof. Mahmood Yakubu has reassure political parties, candidates and the electorate that the choice of who becomes the next Governor of Osun State is entirely in the hands of voters. "As I have repeatedly said in previous engagements with stakeholders, INEC will not take any action to the advantage or disadvantage of any political party or candidate."
He said of the 1,955,657 registered voters in Osun State, 1,479,595 (or 76%) have collected their cards as at Sunday 10th July 2022. Many of the PVCs have already been collected.
Prof. Yakubu made this known at the Osun State 2022 Stakeholders Meeting on Tuesday with the Ooni of Ile Ife, other Traditional Rulers, the Service Chiefs, all the National Commissioners, National Commissioner supervising Osun, INEC National, State and Local Government Offices, Representatives of the Political Parties, and all Stakeholders.
Prof Yakubu said INEC have successfully implemented 12 out of 14 activities contained in the Timetable and Schedule of Activities for the election. The only two outstanding activities are the last day of campaign by political parties which ends at midnight on Thursday 14th July 2022 and Election Day activities on Saturday 16th July 2022.
He said INEC the Commission took the following additional measures with effect from Thursday last week to ensure that more voters collect their PVCs before the election, devolved the collection of PVCs from our 30 Local Government offices to each of the 332 Wards across the State, thereby increasing the number of collection centres and bringing the process closer to voters, Working all days of the week, including the weekend and public holidays to serve voters, extending the last date for the collection of PVCs to Thursday 14th July 2022 i.e. 24 hours to the election.
"We are also updating our records to provide detailed breakdown of PVCs collected by polling units. This will be concluded and made available on Friday 15th July 2022", he noted.
INEC Chairman therefore appealed to all registered voters that are yet to collect their PVCs to seize the opportunity of the additional measures to do so.
Osun State Resident Electoral Commissioner, Prof AbdulGaniy Olayinka Raji said, flash points have been identified and strategies mapped out to resolve issues that can truncate Election Process, conversion of Voting Points to Polling Units were done to ensure expansion of Voter Access to Polling Units, this increased the Polling Units in Osun from 3010 to 3763.
Prof Raji said the Osun State Governorship Election which is scheduled for 16th July, 2022, is about 3 days away and as usual, the Commission found it imperative to meet all the Election Stakeholders in the State in order to update them about all electoral activities towards the election.
He adddd that, To ensure adequate security and peaceful elections, Polling Units were moved away from often contested places such as the front of houses of Politicians, Palaces, Religious centres to Public buildings or open spaces.
"As I speak to you, all non-sensitive materials have been received, distributed to the LGAs, sorted and batched to Plling Unit Level and ready to be conveyed to the Registration Area Camps (RACs).
Earlier in his opening remarks, the Supervising National Commissioner Osun State, Prof. Kunle Ajayi informed the electorate that vote-buying is against the law, and any body found engaging in such an act, would be made to face the full extent of the law. "Therefore, we must all work in unison to put an end to this act, in order to protect the sanctity of our democracy".
Prof Ajayi therefore reiterate to the good people of Osun State that, INEC under the leadership of the Hon. Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu is resolute in its commitment to conduct a free, fair, credible, peaceful and inclusive election come Saturday 16th of July, 2022.
The signing of the Peace Accord by parties and candidates under the auspices of the National Peace Committee chaired by former Head of State, General Abdulsalami Abubakar GCFR will take place on Wednesday 13th July 2022.