Amidst 34,657 security personnel, the people of Ondo state are expected to troop out on Saturday to determine fate of 18 governorship candidates that have queue to become the landlord of the Alagbaka government house for the next four years.
For the political parties, members and the candidates, the last one month has been a rigorous one with everyone traversing the nook and crannies of the state to canvas for votes from 2,053,061 registered voters already cleared by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to elect the new helmsman.
From the promise of free education, employment opportunities, incentives to Farmers and other enticing programmes, each of the candidates has put in the best to convince the electorate on why he should be voted for.
In the course of preparations by the candidates, there have been alignments and realignments among party members with some crossing the carpets to team up with their newly courted parties all in attempt for them to ensure victory for their candidates.
Elections in Ondo state especially the off circle governorship poll, have always been interesting ones with funfare everywhere, with the radio and television stations awash with campaign jingles from candidates and their supporters. The 2024 off circle election, which comes up on Saturday November 16 has not been an exception.
The incumbent Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa that clinched the ticket of the All Progressives Congress, (APC) early in the year, will be slugging it out with 17 others. Aiyedatiwa will be almost a year in office as governor after succeeding late Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, who died last year.
Other Candidates such as Agboola Ajayi, who is flying the flag of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Olusola Ebiseni from the Labour Party, (LP) Paul Adegoke of the YPP and others all have the pedigree to govern the state, as each of them has served one time or the other in the previous administration in the state.
Last few weeks have also witnessed adoption of candidates by various groups and bodies to further boost the chances of the candidates. The royal fathers in the state are not left in this adoption saga as their representatives announced where they belong to. Governors of neighbouring states of Osun, Kogi and Ekiti have come to rally their indigenes, resident in Ondo to vote for candidates of their choice. Osun campaigned for PDP Ajayi, Kogi and Ekiti for Aiyedatiwa.
On its part, the INEC had promised free, fair and hitch free poll with credible result announced. The chairman of the electoral body, Prof Mahmoud Yakubu has been a resident of the state for a week during which he took time to educate and meet various stakeholders on the need for a peaceful outing on Saturday.
On preparation for the election, Yakubu explained that “Let me reassure stakeholders that INEC is ready for the election. We are deploying the BVAS machines for voter accreditation at polling units and for the upload of results to the INEC Result Viewing (IReV) portal. Only yesterday, we conducted mock accreditation in 12 polling units across six Local Government Areas in the three Senatorial Districts of the State.
“The purpose was to test-run our deployment of technology to safeguard the credibility of the election. I am glad to report that the mock was successful and the result can be viewed on the IReV portal. But let me also quickly add that the machines used for the mock accreditation and the training of officials will not be used on Election Day.
“We have sufficient machines for the election which have been configured for voter accreditation and the upload of result distinct from those used for mock accreditation and training.
“So, let me summarise what we have done so far to ensure the success of the 2024 Ondo State Governorship election holding next week. We engaged several times with stakeholders at the national level and here in Ondo State. We have made every information about the election available to Nigerians.
“We have published the list of candidates, the number registered voters and the number of PVCs collected by polling units. We have made available the locations of voting and collation centres across the State. We have accredited observers and media organisations for the election. We have also accredited polling and collation agents and made the details public.
“We visited many of our Local Government offices to assess their readiness for the election. We have test-run our election technology in preparation for the Election Day. We are deploying enough technical support staff to address any challenges that may occur. We have made arrangements for land and maritime transportation of personnel and materials. We have arranged for the delivery of sensitive materials for the election to arrive as early as Tuesday.
“We will invite political parties and other stakeholders for the usual inspection of the materials at the Central Bank here in Akure and throughout the movement of sensitive materials to the Local Governments and the Ward centres. We have warned our staff that there will be consequences for dereliction of duty in any way or form. Tomorrow afternoon, I am going to address the staff, including the Electoral Officers from the 18 Local Government Areas.”
Chairman of the National Peace Committee, and former military Head of State, Abdusalami Abubakar with other members of the committee too were in Akure to preach peace during the election. He told the people especially candidates not to accept results fraught with irregularities.
“I want to encourage the good people of Ondo state to exercise their civic duty by coming out en masse to vote for the candidates of their choice and desist from selling their votes, as it contradicts the very essence of democracy. It remains the duty of Nigerian citizens to elect their leaders free from any inducements or prejudice. Political actors must also discontinue this menace of vote trading.”
The Nigerian Police Force has also been in the forefront in the preparation for Saturday’s election. Officers have been monitoring campaigns by parties and their candidates and so far so good, no ugly incident has been recorded during the campaigns. For the D day, the Inspector General of Police IGP Kayode Egbetokun, has promised that similar feat recorded during Edo Election will be achieved in Ondo.
Egbetokun has volunteered personnel for the election to ensure safety of electorate, officials and the materials. He has told those planning to forment trouble to steer clear.
The IGP, while presenting arrangement for the poll, stated that “A detailed Operation Order for the election has been prepared with adequate Police personnel to be deployed.
“The Nigeria Police will deploy a total of 34,657 personnel to the polling units, wards/LGA collation centers as well as other strategic locations.
“It is expected that Four Police personnel will be deployed at each polling unit, which then implies that 15,732 conventional police personnel will be required for the 3,933 polling units and voting points in the State.
“This will be complemented by the Armed Forces, the Intelligence Security Agencies and other sister Security Agencies.
“A total of Eight thousand, five hundred personnel from the Nigeria Customs Service, Nigeria Correctional Service, Nigeria Immigration Service, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, Federal Road Safety Corps and the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency will be deployed to augment the Police strength.
“This will be complemented by the Armed Forces, the Intelligence Security Agencies and other sister Security Agencies.”
From the foregoing, Saturday’s governorship election in Ondo state is a straight contest between Aiyedatiwa of APC and Ajayi of the PDP. Other political parties will be struggling for the distant third position. Apart from this, a victorious candidate will come from the South senatorial district, that is the riverine area of Ondo state.
The power of incumbency may not be totally ruled out of the outcome. The collapse of the political dynasty of former governor Olusegun Mimiko for the incumbent Governor may likely influence the outcome of the election. However the candidate of the PDP is coming out for the second time to take a shot at the governorship and this too may be an added advantage.
With the choice of Ajayi’s running mate coming from the central, PDP may have good outing from the district. Votes from the South are to be shared by the trio of Aiyedatiwa, Ebiseni and Ajayi. The north is the beautiful bride for the candidates, but the presence of a serving minister from the area, in person of Olubunmi Tunji- Ojo, may give APC winning stride.
In all, Saturday’s governorship poll in Ondo will produce a clear winner, that will be sworn in in February next year.
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