The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has continued to receive accolades from Nigerians and other stakeholders over the outcome of the just concluded governorship election in Edo State.
The election which saw the victory of the incumbent Governor Godwin Obaseki for another term of four years in office has being adjudged as being free and fair.
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Among those who have commended the outcome of the election in Edo include the number one citizen of this country, President Muhammadu Buhari.
Buhari said “My commitment to free and fair elections is firm, because without free and fair elections, the foundation of our political and moral authority will be weak.”
According to him, he had consistently advocated for free and fair elections in the country because it is the bedrock of true democratic order.
He said: “Democracy will mean nothing if the votes of the people don’t count or if their mandate is fraudulently tampered with.”
In similar vein, the national leadership of the governing All Progressives Congress (APC) led by the Governor of Yobe State, Mai-Mala Buni equally commended INEC for the outcome of the election and congratulated the winner, Godwin Obaseki.
He described the outcome of the Edo governorship election as victory for democracy.
For President Buhari and Governor Buni, whose party’s candidate in the election, Osagie Ize-Iyamu, lost to the opposition PDP to have lauded the outcome of the election speak volumes in terms of the credibility and transparency of the election in Edo.
Many local and international observers who monitored the election in Edo have indicated that the election was relatively free and fair when compared to the 2019 general elections.
Perhaps, one innovation that improved the outcome of the Edo governorship election and engendered transparency in the electoral process was the introduction of Z-pad by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Prior to the Edo election, INEC opened an election viewing portal where polling units’ results would be snapped and uploaded by the Presiding Officers using the Z-pad device for the public to see.
No doubt, this innovation was a great game changer as it helped in checkmating alteration and manipulations of election results since members of the public could log on to monitor what was happening across the polling units.
There is a popular saying that you don’t change a winning team.
Therefore, I urge INEC under the leadership of Prof. Mahmood Yakubu fully deploy the Z-pad device in the forthcoming Ondo governorship election to further entrench transparency and credibility in the process.
I urge INEC never to rest on its oars but ensure greater improvement in the Ondo governorship election and other subsequent by-elections to be conducted.
With the way INEC is going, we could have a ray of hope that we would have a more credible general election in 2023.
I urge the security agencies to be impartial and non-partisan in the discharge of their duties during the Ondo governorship.
Let the tempo in Edo governorship election be sustained in Ondo. Let the votes of the people count as that is the only way we can deepen our democratic process.
Reuben Onogwu writes from Utako, Abuja
