The Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD), on Sunday, disclosed that so far, there had been no evidence of rigging in the result of Saturday’s governorship election in Ekiti.
The CDD was among many civil society organisations (CSOs) across the country accredited by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to monitor the Ekiti July 14 governorship poll.
The CDD Director, Idayat Hassan, who was on ground in Ekiti, told NAN in a telephone interview that although there were cases of ballot boxes snatching in some areas, INEC did not declare results from the affected polling units cancelled.
“I think the election outcome reflects the will of the people.
”At least so far, we saw that INEC deployed its logistics early and people turned out to vote inspite of the fear in several voters.
”There is no evidence to show that there was any rigging. Yes all the places there were ballot boxes snatching, INEC actually cancelled the results.
”So for now, we cannot point to any evidence of rigging. What is just going on is more of misinformation by some politicians,” she said.
She said the CDD did not only deploy 100 observers across the local governments of the state but also set up an analysis centre for the election.
Hassan, who advised the people of the state to eschew violence, called on those who were dissatisfied with the election outcome to seek redress in the law court.
”I think fundamentally, the thing is to keep calm. If anybody is not happy with the results of the election, feel free to approach the court of law as the last resort.
”But resorting to violence is not of use to any of us and our nation,” she said. (NAN)
