Admin l November 27, 2016
Ado Ekiti, Nigeria – Transition Monitoring Group (TMG) on the Ondo State Governorship Election which held last Saturday has congratulated the Independent National Electoral Commission(INEC) for holding a peaceful and conclusive poll.
It noted that prior to the Ondo Elections, Ondo State was heated up due to the conflicts amongst and within political parties as a result of lack of internal democracy in some of the major political parties in the State.
“Some of these resulted in court cases and other internal political parties administrative or arbitration processes”, it said in a statement signed by its chairman, Dr Abiola Akiyode-Afolabi.
TMG notes that in moving Nigerian political system forward, there is a need to review electoral processes to address democratic issues within political parties and a review of the winners take all approach in our politics, which he said has become a bane for heated political existence.
“We propose a more robust political space that can support proportional representation, independent candidature and allow more political freedom amongst members of political parties. We therefore call the new Ken Nnamani led Electoral Reform Committee to ensure that some of these issues are addressed”, he said.
“The Transition Monitoring Group (TMG) trained and deployed 200 domestic election observers in the Ondo State Governorship Elections of November 26, 2016. The one-day training programme held at various centres in the three senatorial districts of Ondo State, and drew participants principally from among persons who had taken part in previous TMG election observation operations as either field observers or field supervisors. The trained observers and supervisors were deployed to the eighteen local government areas of the state, with the principal deployment criteria favouring the state capital Akure, the local government headquarters, principal population centres, and towns and other settlements identified as actual or potential election hotspots”, it said.
“Our preliminary assessment of the Ondo State gubernatorial election of November 26, 2016 is in respect of the laid down procedure by the electoral act 2010 as amended. In line with the provisions of the electoral 2010 as amended, our preliminary opinion is that the election was generally peaceful, orderly, well-organised, and well-conducted.
“Security was generally adequate and in fact very substantial, with the military providing security on roads into and within most major towns and the Nigeria Police Force and the Civil Defence Corps providing security at the polling stations. The substantial security presence seemed overall to have provided the confidence that voters needed in most areas to exercise their franchise without fear of intimidation or violence”, TMG said.
It said that the Ondo State gubernatorial election of November 26, 2016 was generally well executed and that the lapses witnessed, while disturbing, did not significantly affect its outcome.
“We congratulate the people of Ondo State, INEC, law Enforcement Agencies, Local and International observers and media for a successful election. We also congratulate the winner of the Ondo 2016 Gubernatorial Election as announced by INEC and urge him to ensure that he takes positive steps to unite the State and ensure good governance and accountability in the state”, TMG said.
