Ekiti: 255, 296 Registered Voters Will Not Exercise Franchise – INEC

The Ekiti State Resident Electoral Commissioner, Mr. Halilu Paul, has said that at no fewer than 255, 296 registered people would not be allowed to cast their vote in today’s (Saturday) governorship election in the state because they do not have their permanent voters’ cards.

Paul also stated that at least 1,900 local and foreign observers will monitor the governorship election, which is already underway

The INEC boss, who made the disclosure at a news conference in Ado Ekiti, the state capital on Friday, promised that with the large number of security operatives in the state and the trained ad-hoc staff of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, the election would run smoothly.

He said, “We have accredited local and foreign observers that will add value to the process as we have nothing to hide. We want people to observe what we are doing and then advise us better.

“We have been able give out 476,870 permanent voter’s cards out of the 732,166 in the voter’s register and that represents 64.98 per cent and comfortably we can say nearly 65 per cent has collected permanent voter’s cards. Let me reiterate that no voter will be accredited if he or she does not have their permanent voter’s card. So that is the maximum number of voters we are expecting”.

Mr. Paul added that the result of the elections would be announced in Ekiti and not Abuja and urged the media not to speculate on the result of the election until it has been endorsed by INEC.