*Says commission will conduct free, fair polls
By; BAYO AKAMO, Ibadan
The Oyo State Independent Electoral Commission (OYSIEC) on Thursday, hinted that the commission will engage activities of Operation Amotekun Corps in the conduct of the coming local government election in the state
Chairman of the Commission (OYSIEC), Chief Isiaka Olagunju (SAN dropped this hint in Ibadan while speaking at the Oyo State Correspondents’ Chapel of Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) guest platform “Speak Out”.
Chief Olagunju (SAN) pointed out that this was part of the commission efforts at ensuring a free, fair and acceptable local government election in the state
The OYSIEC Chairman maintained that in any election in Nigeria, the services of Nigeria Police is ery crucial and other security agencies such as the army, DSS and NSCDC in the conduct of the election.
According to him, engaging Amotekun in the local government election may be seen by the opposition parties willing to participate in the election as a ploy by the ruling party to intimidate them during the election.
” In election management, the police is key in security matters. We have visited the police, the army, the DSS, and the NSCDC’ and the correctional service on the need for adequate security during the election “, he said
Chief Olagunju (SAN) added, “We may not engage Amotekun to avoid the insinuation that they may be used to intimidate the people. We are going to engage the police, the army, DSS and NSCDC even the correctional centre,”
“We have over 6,000 polling units now in Oyo state and we will have at least three people in a polling unit. So, we will have about 18,000 personnel. We will engage them and give them the necessary training”
He emphasized that OYSIEC is ready to conduct a free,fair and credible local government election in April next year, adding that towards this the commission will engage about 18,000 personnel to ensure that the election went as expected.
The OYSIEC Chairman stressed that the commission will next week commence screening of candidates to be presented for the election by the political participating in the election and that politicians in the state should be ready to cooperate with the commission in the conduct of the election.
In doing this, Chief Olagunju (SAN) tasked politicians and political parties in the state to abide by the laid down rules in ensuring free, fair local government election in the state, adding that OYSIEC will be neutral and fair to all the political parties participating in the local government election
