National Commissioner and Chairman of the Information and Voter Education Committee, Independent National Elections Commission, (INEC), Mohammed Haruna, has expressed confidence that the commission is fully ready for the Osun election despite pre-election violence and operational hitches.

He said this in an interview on ARISE NEWS on Friday.

“We are fully ready. We had some hitches, as I’m sure you’re aware—it was widely reported. But by yesterday, I think 6:00 PM—or by 8:00 PM—the ballot papers had arrived in Osogbo,” he said.

Haruna said INEC had to reprint the ballot papers after a court order directed the commission to include the Social Democratic Party (SDP) candidate, Francis Olugbenga, adding that the development would not affect the opening of polls.

“We had to reprint the ballot papers because a court order asked us to include a party which was not on the ballot papers. But by yesterday, I think 6:00 PM—or by 8:00 PM—the ballot papers had arrived in Osogbo. We had to reprint the entire thing, but that will not affect the opening of polls,” he assured.

The INEC official, however, acknowledged that the level of pre-election violence was not conducive to a peaceful poll, saying INEC was worried but hopeful that Osun would witness a peaceful election.

“Obviously, the violent environment is not conducive. If you have this level of violence, INEC is, of course, worried. But we take consolation in the fact that this is not the first time this kind of atmosphere has been created. If you recall, we had a similar situation in Anambra. It was so intense, the violence and all, that I remember one of the meetings we had with the political parties themselves—some of them called for the suspension of the election. But we decided to still forge ahead, and at the end of the day, that election turned out to be one of the most peaceful.

“INEC is not, strictly speaking, in charge of security. It’s the uniformed services with the police as the lead agency. We’ve engaged with them several times to make sure that they do what is right. Then, of course, there was the signing of the accord. The same thing this time around: virtually the entire Commission went to meet with the Ooni of Ife and several other traditional rulers in the state. Hopefully, these things will help us calm the situation in the state,” he said.

Dismissing claims that the BVAS mock exercise failed, Haruna acknowledged some hitches but said INEC had taken measures to prevent a recurrence, including deploying 5,130 BVAS devices for the 3,763 polling units.

“To begin with, I don’t agree that the mock failed. There were hitches; there were some polling units where we had problems. Yes, there were hitches, but we’ve taken measures to make sure that they don’t recur. As you said, we have 3,763 polling units, but we’ve deployed 5,130 BVAS devices. In other words, there are redundancies in case there are hitches. We also have what we call RATTechs—Registration Area Technical Aids. In all the 332 wards, we’ve provided these RATTechs so if there’s a hitch, we can quickly deploy them to find out exactly what the problem is, rectify them, or replace them with these redundancies that we’ve put aside,” he disclosed.

On vote-buying, Haruna said INEC was not responsible for buying or selling votes, but disclosed that the commission had engaged the EFCC and ICPC to monitor the situation and ensure offenders were prosecuted.

“We are not the ones buying or selling. But we’ve engaged with the EFCC, for instance, and the ICPC. Those are the ones that should be able to monitor what is happening and make sure that anybody who violates this is prosecuted.”

On concerns over voter apathy, Haruna clarified that INEC had released specific figures, stating that 1,956,390 Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) had been collected, representing about 81.5 per cent of the total PVCs printed.

“We gave specific figures. I issued a statement yesterday that gave the specific figures. The PVCs collected are 1,956,390, which was about 81.5% of the total PVCs printed.”

Highlighting safeguards the commission will introduce to boost voter participation, Haruna said INEC had engaged stakeholders at the grassroots to mobilise voters ahead of the election.

“We’ve done a lot. We’ve engaged at the grassroots level, and we’ve engaged with all the other stakeholders to mobilize voters to go out and vote. But the onus of this mobilization really rests on the political parties. INEC’s responsibility is to educate voters on how to go about voting,” he shared.

Addressing concerns over the EC8A forms, Haruna said INEC had introduced a digitised result sheet as a safeguard against tampering, with scanned results uploaded to the IReV portal.

“One of the safeguards we’ve taken—although I see that some NGOs or civil society organizations are skeptical about it—is the digitalized form of the EC8A. Once the results are declared, the presiding officer enters them into the form EC8A, scans it, and then enters it electronically. The scanned result is what gets uploaded onto the IReV. If anybody tampers with it or changes any figure, it will not go. That is the essence of the digitized result sheet,” he explained.

Explaining the deployment of 15 Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) for the Osun State election, Haruna said the move was driven by concerns over the poll’s significance as the last off-cycle election before the 2023 general elections.

“It’s precisely because it’s probably the most consequential of all off-season elections. We’ve both agreed that it’s the last election before the general election, so we want to be sure we get it right. It’s not just that we deployed 15 RECs; we also deployed seven National Commissioners. So right now, seven National Commissioners are on the ground, including, of course, the supervising National Commissioner who is in charge of Osun,” he added.

Urging voters to come out in their numbers, Haruna said strong voter participation would make it more difficult for anyone to rig the election, despite concerns over security.

“I can’t say anything beyond the fact that we’ve done our best. We’ve engaged with those who are in charge of security, and we’ve engaged with traditional rulers to help us mobilize people to come out. There is strength in numbers. Once people come out, it will be even more difficult for anybody who contemplates rigging to do so. The people are stronger than someone who is just individually strong.

“I know it’s a tall order and people are afraid, but if they come out in their numbers, it will make it very difficult for anyone to do something funny. That is my plea: that the voters should all come out in their numbers,” he appealed.

Addressing concerns over the 12 local government areas identified as high-risk zones in Osun State, Haruna said INEC had engaged security agencies, while deploying a retired Admiral among its National Commissioners to supervise the election.

“I must repeat the same thing: the police is the lead agency, but we’ve engaged with all the other agencies too. One of the National Commissioners there now is a retired Admiral, and the uniformed services will have respect for her. That’s one of the reasons why we deployed her among the National Commissioners to supervise the election. We’ve done our own bit, and I’m sure the police as well as the other uniformed services—the Army, Navy, and so on—will also do their bit,” Haruna maintained.

Speaking on possible irregularities at polling units, the INEC official said INEC would cancel and reschedule voting in cases of over-voting or violence that threatens the safety of voters and election officials.

“All these rules and regulations are there. If, for instance, there’s over-voting, or if there’s so much violence that we feel the lives of our staff and voters are not safe, we will obviously have to cancel the election and reschedule it. This won’t be the first time we’ve done that. In Anambra, we had issues in Ihiala, and we had to shift the election by two days, but eventually, it was held. Obviously, we are ready for any eventuality. We even have software deployed so that if a presiding officer or any other person feels in danger, they can reach INEC through that software, and we’ll be able to take appropriate steps,” he assured.

Outlining the process for the emergence of a winner, Haruna said a candidate must secure a majority of votes and score at least 25 per cent in two-thirds of Osun State’s 30 local government areas, or the election would be rescheduled.

“You have to score 25% across at least a quarter of the local governments in Osun—we have 30 local governments. If nobody gets that, obviously, we will have to reschedule the election.

“There are two requirements: first, you have the majority of votes (50% + 1), and then, of course, you score at least 25% across two-thirds of the local governments. If nobody gets that, we’ll have to reschedule the election,” he reiterated. (Arise News)

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