Elections can’t be rigged in Nigeria again – INEC boasts

Professor Kunle Ajayi, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) National Commissioner for the forthcoming Osun 2022 gubernatorial election has said that nobody would be able to rig election in the country again.

He revealed that the introduction of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) has made it very difficult for anyone to rig elections in Nigeria.

He made this revelation during an interview session with newsmen on the sideline of the INEC pre-election preparation workshop in Osogbo.

He admitted that though the Ekiti 2022 gubernatorial election should be used to assess the next dimension of politics and election in the country.

Ajayi said the reason for the workshop was to find ways to build on standard set in Ekiti state and do better.

In his words, “We are here to train our staff. They have been earlier trained but we believe by now they would have become rusty because the last election was four years ago.

“This training is needed in order to meet the contemporary challenges in the electoral system.

“We are going to train them in the new technology introduced by INEC. With the BVAS, I assure you that nobody can rig elections again in Nigeria.

“We must teach our staff how to manage it, how to use it and how to manage whatever problem that crops up from using it.

“We want to train them in logistics management and ensure that the necessary logistics are in place before the election.

“We want to train them on how to recruit ad-hoc staff. INEC staff alone cannot do it. So, there is need to bring in some capable hands. The need to train the ad-hoc staff is why we also want to train our staff to train them.

“We want to ensure that the election is inclusive. INEC has a policy of inclusivity. Everybody is a stakeholder, important and vital to the Nigerian election.

“Provision of braille ballot for the blind, magnifying glasses for albinos, accessibility to the ballot boxes and how to manage People With Disabilities (PWDs) so as not to irritate them and make them feel loved, is all what we are going to train them for,” he stated.

The INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner for Osun, Professor Abdulganiy Olayinka Raji, in his speech, said that the electoral umpire has taken cognizance of all the legal processes for the election to be a successful one.

Raji also disclosed that the Commission had made necessary plans with the security agencies, to ensure that the 2022 Osun gubernatorial election is a secured exercise.