Ayodele Fayose, the governor of Ekiti State, has hailed the conduct of the Anambra State Governorship election, describing the performance of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and security agencies as above average and a sign that the electoral umpire was listening to the cries of Nigerians for a return to the legacy of free, fair and credible elections inherited by the All Progressives Congress (APC) government.
The governor, on Sunday, November 19, 2017 also congratulated Governor Willie Obiano for his landmark victory in the election, saying that the results clearly showed that connection to the people was key to winning an election.
Reacting through Lere Olayinka, his media aide, Governor Fayose said; “Even though there were reports of malfunctioning of card readers, number of votes exceeding number of accredited voters and pockets of violence as well as buying of votes, the Anambra governorship election was better than others conducted by INEC under the present government of APC.”
The governor, who urged INEC to pay more attention to the malfunctioning of card readers, said, “By now, INEC ought to have resolved all issues on card readers because it does not augur well for the electoral process and INEC itself if we are still being faced with failure of card readers on election day.”
The governor hailed observers, both local and international for ensuring that the election was relatively credible, urging them to focus more attention on the 2018 governorship election in Ekiti and Osun States.
“Particularly, we will be having governorship election here in Ekiti on July 14, 2018. I want both local and international observers to be involved before and during the election because what the people of Ekiti State desire is freedom to choose their governor.
“In 2018, we should no longer be talking about failure of card readers, late arrival of electoral materials at polling units and other problems identified during the Anambra election,” he said.
Describing credible electoral process as the only way democracy can be sustained in the country; Governor Fayose said “Even elected public officers will have no option than to deliver democracy dividends to the people if there is assurance that votes will count.”
