THE standard bearer of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the forthcoming September 22 governorship poll in Osun, Senator Ademola Adeleke on Friday expressed his readiness to back the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in its moves to checkmate attempts by politicians to engage in votes buying during the exercise.
Speaking during a chat with journalists in Ede, shortly after receiving the Political Adviser of the British High Commission, Lagos, Mr Wale Adebajo, he said he was ready to support the plan by INEC to disallow the usage of phones at polling booths, with a view to thwarts acts of votes buying and other electoral malpractices.
Adeleke averred that “to me, INEC knows what they are doing and whatever will prevent votes buying, we should give them chance to do it. They plan and improve every day ahead of the election. Before they introduced card readers, there were lots of rigging, but now card readers have reduced rigging.
He continued, “no election is perfect, even the ones conducted in the United States, they are still striving to improve and I believe our own would not be different. Whatever INEC want to do to prevent rigging, to prevent people from snapping their ballots papers to show people who paid them for votes should be supported. It is a welcome development and we should give them chance to do their jobs.”
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Commenting on the British envoy’s visit, Adeleke said “they came to have an audience with me. He discussed with me about the election that is coming up on September 22. They came to offer assistance in terms of monitoring the election and support Nigeria democracy. They asked a lot of questions about how are we sure the election is going to be free and fair. We believe the election is going to be free and fair. They are part of the process to make the election free and fair. We appreciate them for coming.
On the speculation that some desperate politicians were planning to abduct chieftains of the PDP before the poll, he said “though it is a rumour we must take it seriously. We heard that they were planning to kidnap some PDP elders before the election, once they start that as a ruling party, that means rigging has started, we hope it is not going to happen. But, we would continue to shout about it. The security agencies know their jobs and we can’t tell them how to do their job. We have passed the information to them and they know what to do.”
Efforts to speak with the British envoys led by the Political Adviser from British High Commission, Lagos, Mr Wale Adebajo proved abortive as they declined to talk to journalists.
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