#NIGERIA DECIDES2023: Feb. 25: Ekiti election one of Nigeria’s best – Observers

The group, however admitted that the election was not without  challenges.

In a preliminary report  released in Ado-Ekiti, the Ekiti State Capital, the Nigerian Human Rights Community, (NHRC), a coalition of several civil society organizations said the transparency, effectiveness and promptness of the process remains a reference point for future elections in Nigeria.

According to the coalition, the fact that Ekiti was the first to release its result indicated the effectiveness of the process.

The group said that the INEC needs to improve on provision of more polling units and employment of more ad hoc staff to speed up the process.

The Nigerian Human Rights Community, (NIHRC) had deployed 400 poll monitors in 16 local Government areas and 19 Local Council Development Areas, (LCDAs) in the State.

There are 2, 445 polling units and 177 Registration centres.

The group commended the State Governor for providing a non-violent environment and for personally leading the campaign for free and fair election ahead of the Saturday poll adding that the new Ekiti State Governor demonstrated unique statesmanship.

In the release signed by two Programme Officers of the Monitoring Exercise Taiwo Adeleye and Fred Ojinika said the results of the election truly expressed the will of the people.

The exercise was coordinated by Mr Adewale Adeoye

The Rights coalition said there were no violent incidence or major disturbances in all the 177 wards, local governments and in all the polling units agreeing that the development underlined the importance the people attach to democracy as the best alternative in governance.

“We think Nigeria needs to learn a lot from the conduct of the National Election in Ekiti State. The election materials arrived as early as 7am in 90 percent of the polling units. The party agents conducted themselves in the most civil manner without pronounced cases of skirmishes.

 “The security operatives were well detailed and professional in their conducts. We commend the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps, (NSCDC) officials and the police for their professional conducts during the exercise” the statement said.

The group said there was lack of intimidation of voters, no vote buying while polling boxes were not snatched or destroyed during  the exercise.

“We see this as a very impressive development. It’s a lesson Nigeria needs to emulate.”

NIHRC said reports indicated that the Governor and the traditional rulers played critical roles in pre election campaign for peace and conflict prevention.

“One of the lessons is that the mindset, orientation and perspective of the political and cultural leadership is important in determining the outcome of elections.

“Where political leaders consciously preach against violence through constructive engagement with stakeholders, irrespective of their political leaning, the prospect of having a free and fair election will be very high,” the statement said.

The group also commended the State Governor Abiodun Oyebanji for his moral forthrightness and his commitment  to ensure a peaceful and violent free election.

“The Governor provided true leadership. Respondents said he consulted widely with all the political parties and drew commitment of non violence. It worked for the outcome of the hitch-free election.”

There are a total of 783,796 PVCs that were collected, with 205,127  uncollected. The registered number of voters is  988,923

The group however listed the grew areas to be low turnout, lack of mobility for voters and the negative impact of the Central Bank of Nigeria, (CBN) cash crunch which denied many voters the opportunity of traveling to their communities to cast their votes.

“We also observed that Ekiti needs more polling booths. The distance between one polling booth and the other falls below global standards. We urge INEC to list Ekiti State as one of the communities that are in crucial need of more polling units.

“From our estimation, Ekiti needs no fewer than 500 more polling units to be able to meet the electoral expectations of the population,” the statement concluded.