AS the Ondo State governorship election gets underway today, Saturday, November 16, stakeholders have urged politicians to respect the process and allow the people’s will to prevail.
They argued that Nigeria’s electoral system would not attain high standards if politicians behaved rascally and flouted the law.
“Our political class need to reform their mindset on how they approach elections. It’s not helping our electoral system development, “a right advocate with many years of election observation experience, Cynthia Mbamalu, said while commenting on the Ondo poll.
She said in most cases, “If politicians don’t want to see success, they always find a way to circumvent the electoral law.
“Most politicians are still rascally in the way they engage the electoral process and that’s not helping our progress in electoral reforms,” she stressed.
Also speaking on the poll, public accountability and democratic reforms advocate, Ezenwa Nwagwu, said most Nigerian political elites always found ways to circumvent the electoral law to suit them.
“If we have a political class that is alive to its responsibility, and not outsource its responsibility to the media, we’ll be making appreciable progress in our electoral reforms processes,” he added.
The Ondo State Governorship election started on Saturday with a heavy security presence consisting of personnel of the Nigerian Police Force, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), and Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), who manned strategic points across the state.
Armed security personnel, including the military, were seen by The ICIR reporters in the state at strategic points such as the entrance into Akure, the state capital, major towns, local government secretariats as well as on major roads in the state.
Officers of the Nigerian Police Force, Nigeria Correction Service, Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), and Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) were also seen at the various polling units.
A total of 1,757,205 voters who collected permanent voter’s cards are expected to cast their ballots in the 3,933 polling units across the 203 wards in the state’s 18 LGAs.
According to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), 18 political parties are featuring candidates in the poll. However, The ICIR reported that three candidates withdrew from the race.
The leading contenders in the poll are the incumbent Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa of the All Progressives Congress (APC), and the former Deputy Governor Agboola Ajayi of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP).
Harrison Edeh is a journalist with the International Centre for Investigative Reporting, always determined to drive advocacy for good governance through holding public officials and businesses accountable.