Insinuations about a possible deployment of soldiers for the conduct of the governorship rerun in Ekiti State on Saturday have been laid to rest.
The Presidency said yesterday that requests that troops be deployed in Ekiti for the poll would not be granted.
Special Adviser to President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua on Media and Publicity, Mr. Olusegun Adeniyi, who said the President would not grant the request for troops for the rerun, also debunked insinuations that Yar’Adua would today attend the final rally of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state.
Former governor of the state and PDP candidate, Mr. Segun Oni, and his Action Congress (AC) counterpart, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, are to slug it out again at the rerun in 63 wards in 10 local government areas of the state.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had reportedly canvassed deployment of troops for the poll, maintaining that the police might not be able to ensure peace and security during the election.
But yesterday, the commission described as “baseless and unsubstantiated,” the reports that it was canvassing deployment of troops in the state.
INEC’s Acting Director, Public Affairs Emmanuel Umenger said it had never been the policy of the commission to use soldiers to conduct elections.
Umenger said that soldiers could only be used when there was total breakdown of law and order and not to conduct elections “and as far as we are concerned there is nothing like that in Ekiti”.
Addressing State House Correspondents, Adeniyi confirmed that there would be no deployment of troops in Ekiti.
He said: “There will be no such thing. Of course the President is interested in security in Ekiti and in every other state and will ensure that people go out and vote without any molestation or hindrance, but there will be no deployment of troops because there is no breakdown of law and order in Ekiti.
“INEC does not have the power of the Commander-in-Chief to deploy troops. All that will happen on Saturday is that there will be adequate security for people who want to go out to vote.”
On reports that Yar’Adua would go back to Ekiti for Oni’s final rally, Adeniyi said: “The report that the President is going back to campaign in Ekiti is not accurate. The President is not going back and there was never a plan for him to go back. He went the week before to declare the campaign open and is not going back.
“The President is not in the habit of going back to any state to campaign after flagging off the campaign. There is no reason for him to go back to Ekiti. He is a supporter of Governor Oni as a PDP member and will wish that the former governor wins the election and comes back but it is not in his hand, it is for the people of Ekiti to determine who governs them come Saturday.
“The President is a fair-minded man even though he is a PDP man and would wish that Oni returns to Government House, which he has been campaigning for; it is the wish of the Ekiti people that will prevail at the end of the day.
The Presidential Spokesman said the police were capable of taking care of the situation there and that everybody would be safe come Saturday.
“I believe the situation is being handled by the police and the Inspector General is on top of it. There are all kinds of reports as to fears that there could be breakdown of law and order but whatever the situation I think they will be contain it,” he added.
Meanwhile, INEC Chairman Maurice Iwu has said politicians in the state will be held responsible should there be any breakdown of law and order during the rerun.
Iwu, who was addressing a stakeholders’ meeting in Ado-Ekiti ahead of the poll, said it would be wrong for the people to blame INEC if some people resorted to violence at the poll.
The INEC boss also announced that the electoral officers of the 10 local government areas where the election would take place had been relieved of the positions, pending the time the election would be conducted
Iwu said electoral officers from states, which he did not disclose, would conduct the election and that they would arrive the state 48 hours to the poll, adding that the commission would not use ad hoc staff in the election.
He said he could not speak on whether the soldiers would be deployed to monitor the election based on apprehension from certain quarters, saying that is the duty of the President, who is the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed forces.
Those at the stakeholders’ meeting included the chairmen and secretaries of the two main political parties in the state, AC and PDP, as well as Oni.
Also present were the security operatives, monitoring gro-ups, civil and human right organizations, market men and women as well as the staff of the National Orientation Agency (NOA).
Iwu said the commission or its head could not take responsibility for any electoral offences except the one that came from it.
He condemned the AC and PDP in the state for unnecessarily submerging the state in violence in their electioneering, reminding them that the state is much more than the two parties.
The INEC chairman advised politicians and other well meaning indigenes of the state to take their destinies in their own hands and refrain from taking directives from outsiders, whom he said were the ones interfering and fanning the ember of discord.
On the resolve of the electorate to vote and stay behind to protect their votes, Iwu disagreed with such a plan, saying it was capable of igniting crisis that could truncate the conduct of the election
He said to demonstrate neutrality in the coming election, three resident electoral commissioners from Jigawa, Imo and Federal Capital Territory had been deployed by INEC to conduct the election.
According to him, the three national commissioners are to compliment the efforts of the resident electoral commissioner in the state, Mrs. Ayoka Olusola Adebayo.
Opposition parties endorse Fayemi Coalition of opposition political parties under the umbrella of Pan African Alliance (PAN) yesterday rose to endorse Fayemi for the election, claiming that he is a better candidate than Oni.
The Coordinator of the group, Max Okwu, said the group had assessed Oni’s two years in office before his election was annulled and also viewed Fayemi’s political pedigree and studied his eight-point agenda for change and found him a better candidate.
The parties that endorsed Fayemi included Action Alli-ance (AA), African Liberation Party (ALP), Action Party of Nigeria (APN), Citizens Popular Party (CPP), Liberal Democratic Party of Nigeria (LDPN), Hope Democratic Party (HDP), Movement for Democ-racy and Justice (MDJ), Masses Movement of Nigeria (MMN), Nigeria Peoples Congress (NPC), New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), New Democrats (ND), National Solidarity Democratic Party (NSDP) and Peoples Mandate Party (PMP).
AC, PDP Express Shock at Calls for Troop Deployment
The Conference of Nigeria Political Parties (CNPP) and AC have expressed shock and disappointment over the reported request by INEC that soldiers be deployed for the rerun.
They called on the government to resist the temptation to send troops to the state.
CNPP National Publicity Secretary Osita Okechukwu told THISDAY that the call for troops was “out to intimidate the electorate and pave way for PDP to rig.”
AC National Publicity Secretary Lai Mohammed said there was no plausible reason for INEC to make such a demand, since the state remains largely peaceful ahead of the poll.
“Ekiti will remain peaceful even on election day, for as long as a level playing field is provided for the conduct of the re-run. Only an attempt to rig can pitch the determined Ekiti people against the riggers,’’ he said.
Apr232009