The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Oyo state has tasked the Oyo State Independent Electoral Commission (OYSIEC) to ensure a free, fair and credible conduct of the forthcoming local government election in the state.
Though the party said it initially insisted on the use of Biometric Verification Accreditation System (BVAS), the Oyo APC said it was participating in the election based on assurances of the OYSIEC that even without the use of BVAS, the election would be free and fair.
This is as the party added that its participation in the election with or without BVAS was also fuelled by its desire to liberate the local government tier of government in the state.
The party, through its publicity secretary, Mr Olawale Sadare, said it had accepted that OYSIEC would not be able to secure the use of BVAS from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), but fixed all its eyes on the state electoral commission for a credible conduct of the election.
The party added that it participated in the election based on assurances that include that only original owner of Permanent Voter Card (PVC) will be allowed to vote, that voter register will be reproduced and pasted at each polling unit days to the poll, that results will b announced at each polling unit, and that Amotekun personnel, members of the Park Management System (PMS) will not be engaged for the election.
The party subsequently appealed to voters in the state to shun apathy and come out on April 27 to cast their ballots for its candidates.
Doing so, according to the Oyo APC, was “the only antidote to the imminent total collapse of the 33 local government councils as well as erosion of democracy from the grassroots level.”
The party added: “As a responsible political party, the question of whether we would participate in the planned election has been addressed.
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“For the sake of record, we never shied away from performing our duties as this concerns fielding credible candidates for lawful elections and ensuring citizens participation in constitutional democratic processes.
“We insisted on the usage of BVAS for this election because we wanted OYSIEC to be fair to all parties concerned and it should be known that the machines could not functioned in favour of our party alone on the day of election.
“But when it became obvious that OYSIEC would not be able to secure the machines from INEC, we mobilized some of other serious parties and got assurances of idea conduct of the April 27 poll from the state electoral body.
“We got the OYSIEC chairman, Aare Isiaka Olagunju SAN, and his Commission to restate their commitment to a free, fair and credible poll as they agreed to the following terms.
“One, only an original owner of a PVC, who shows up at the polling unit on the day of the election, will be eligible to cast his or vote vote. Two, Comprehensive Voter Register will be reproduced and pasted on the wall of each Polling Unit three or four days to the poll.
“Three; no Amotekun Corps, PMS employees or officials of security outfits not owned by the Federal Government will be involved in election duty. Four; representatives of each participating political party will be allowed to inspect sensitive poll materials and also follow up on the distribution of same materials to guarantee transparency and accountability.
“Five; foreign and local organisations who have applied for accreditation to serve as Observers and Monitors on the day of election will be considered and given special identification tags as no elected or appointed officials of either local, state or federal government will have the right move round in the guise of monitoring the poll.
“Last but not least; results are to be processed and announced at each Polling Unit before transmission to Ward Collation Centre and later Local Government Collation Centre where winners will be declared by the relevant officials.
“In the same vein, we urge the security agencies and other relevant stakeholders to plan ahead and ensure they play their part before, during and after the election so that the Pacesetter state would be better for it.” Sadare added.
Meanwhile, the OYSIEC has stressed that it is important for residents to partake in the forthcoming local government councils election, urging them to see their participation in the poll as a duty to be performed as citizens of the state.
This is as he sought the active participation of security agencies in the state to boost the confidence of residents to come out enmasse to vote on election day.
The OYSIEC Chairman, Mr Isiaka Olagunju made this call during a visit to the state headquarters of the Department of State Services (DSS) to seek their collaboration for the election.
He described voter apathy as the greatest challenge and called for concerted efforts among all the security agencies in the state to prevent molestation and harassment on election day.
Olagunju said: “The purpose is to further our collaboration with the security agencies. You recall that we have visited the police, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps (NSCDC), it is also important for us to visit the DSS to seek their collaboration for the peaceful conduct of the election.
“We are very glad that they have assured us of their collaboration and assistance in ensuring that election is peaceful and orderly.
“Before the election, we are going to meet all the security agencies again to further strengthen our measures being put in place.
“Our message has always been that residents should be assured that the election will be peaceful, transparent, free, and fair, what we want them to do is to troop out en masse on the 27th of April, and we assure that their votes will count.”
NIGERIAN TRIBUNE