The Kwara State Independent Electoral Commission (KWSIEC) has said the accreditation and voting in the forthcoming local government election slated for November 18,2017 will hold same time during the exercise.
Chairman of the commission, Dr Uthman Ajidagba dropped the hint during a seminar convened by the commission for representatives of political parties, security agencies and other stakeholders in Ilorin on Tuesday.
Ajidagba who maintained that the date for the election remained sacrosanct, warned politicians to stay clear of ballot box snatching describing it as a criminal offence punishable under the extant laws of the state guiding the exercise.
According to him, accredited voters will commence voting immediately to guide against the situation where people will stay put at home or engaged themselves in other things instead of returning to the polling centres.
He warmed politicians to desist from passing the wrong information and rumours to their supporters so as not to overheat the polity adding that the security of lives and property of the voters is paramount.
“We have heard some mischief makers peddling all kinds of frivolous allegations and unfunded rumours. We have just been told that some people were saying that KWSIEC was planning to have election without accreditation.
“Even the option A4 during IBB’s regime there was still accreditation. We now realised that inviting people to come and talk will continue to be relevant. For the purpose of clarity, instead of accrediting voters, allowing them to go home only for few of them to stay back and few coming to vote, we are saying that we will do accreditation and voting simultaneously.
“The bad news for the mischief makers is that they have not succeeded in blackmailing us and they will never succeed. This election will hold peacefully and creditably by the special grace of God. We are prepared more than ever before to deliver to the good people of Kwara state a credible and result oriented election”, he added.
Speaking on the theme of the seminar “A Prognosis of Electoral Violence and Challenges of Democratic in Nigeria”, Dr Ebenezer Ejalonibu Lawal of Department of Political Science, Federal University, Lokoja, stressed on the need for all stakeholders to play by the rules.
Present at the event include representatives of Commissioner of Police, Mr Lawal Ado, DCP Suleiman Balarabe, Professor M.M Akanbi, political parties, civil groups and security agencies, among others.
