Democracy on trial in Ondo State, INEC has merged with APC- Fayose

At the early hours of Friday, information came in that the Vice

Chancellor of the Federal University, Oye Ekiti (FUOYE), Prof Kayode

Soremekun, who was the INEC Returning Officer in the recently concluded

Edo State governorship election that is still a subject of litigation,

will also serve as the Returning Officer for the Ondo State election.

The questions that came to my mind were; is Prof

Kayode Soremekun the only Vice Chancellor in Nigeria? Is FUOYE the only

federal university in Nigeria? Is Ekiti the only State where INEC can

find Returning Officers?

Definitely, INEC is up to a sinister game on the Ondo State election and

it is obvious that the electoral commission is working with the All

Progressives Congress (APC).

This belief was further made manifest by the response of Prof Soremekun

to a SMS and a call, saying that he was only being used as decoy by

INEC.

This was further corroborated by the INEC Resident Electoral

Commissioner in Ondo State, Mr Olusegun Agbaje, who said on television

that identities of those to be used as Returning Officers are being kept

secret.

Obviously, it is clear beyond any doubt that INEC is only trying to make

a volte-face, after its sinister motive of using the same people it

used to rig the Edo State election was exposed.

Electoral process should an open book that anyone can read. Sadly, less

than 24 hours to the Ondo State election, INEC is telling Nigerians and

the entire world that identities of those to serve as Returning

Officers are being kept secret.

Why should those that will conduct election be hidden from Nigerians? Is election now a secret affair?

The sad reality confronting the electoral process in Nigeria today is

that apart from the APC, other political parties are now contesting

elections against INEC.

It is clear that the Returning Officers already have fake results that they will announce to Nigerians as they did in Edo State.

Evidently, democracy in Nigeria has suffered a serious setback and it

will take the insistence and resistance of the people of Ondo State for

their votes to count tomorrow.

Furthermore, to sustain the planned rigging, names of some judges seen

as trusted enough to give the APC favourable judgment have been compiled

to be used as members of the Election Petition Tribunal. In other

words, the election tribunal has been constituted even before the

election is held.

I therefore urge the people of Ondo State to be extremely vigilant.

When they go out tomorrow to cast their votes, they must stand by their

votes. They must follow their votes from the polling stations to the

ward collation centres, local government collation centres and the State

collation centre.

My dear people of Ondo State, if they tell you to leave the State

collation centre at any time that collation will be suspended as they

did in Edo State, resist it. Stay awake all night on Saturday till final

result is announced.

INEC must be reminded that is has a duty to Nigerians and not APC. The

people of Ondo State must be the one to elect their own governor, not

INEC.

Therefore, tomorrow’s election must be free, fair and credible.

Nigerians must remember there is no alternative to democracy, we must

salvage it together.