Politics
THE Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has tasked stakeholders in Ondo State on transparency and peaceful conduct during and after the Ondo South Senatorial District by-election.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that June 20 is scheduled for the by-election to fill the seat of Sen. Jimoh Ibrahim after his appointment as Nigeria’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations.
The Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in the state, Dr Mutiu Agboke, made the call on Wednesday in Akure during the distribution of sensitive electoral materials to the six local government areas of the senatorial district.
Agboke, who tasked political parties on transparency, urged all the stakeholders involved in the by-election to be peaceful and desist from vote buying.
“If you are asking INEC about transparency, also ask the stakeholders, particularly political parties, to also be transparent. How? On election day, if you bring money to get people’s votes, you are not transparent.
“If you want to unleash terror or you want to unleash violence, you are not transparent. If you want to harass our staff, you want to create problems in the electoral space, you are not transparent.
“So, for INEC, we have trained our staff. They are going to work with the best practices of the standard we have given them. They are going to ensure that people’s votes count.
“I have always said it. Nothing should deter me, and nothing will deter me to announce what people have said through their votes . So, these are the indices for transparency,” he said.
The REC also said the distribution of the sensitive materials, which was done in the presence of all political parties involved, was the last stage of the commission’s preparation for the election.
Agboke noted that only four political parties: All Progressives Congress (APC) , Allied Peoples’ Movement (APM), Action Peoples Party (APP) and Boot Party would participate in the election with 673,446 eligible voters.
He said there was robust collaboration with security agencies in the state to ensure that voters, INEC staff and electoral materials were well secure.
In his remarks, the state Chairman of Inter-Party Advisory Council, Mr Alex Adeniyi, expressed his satisfaction with the preparedness of INEC for the election.
Adeniyi added that the level of preparedness had shown that the commission had improved in its conduct of elections.
Similarly, Mr Olaoluwa Adesanya, representative of Action Peoples Party (APP), said the process so far had been encouraging.
Also, Elder Felix Oloro, state Chairman of APM, said the party was well prepared for the election, and commended the electoral body for its preparedness.
(NAN)
W.U
June 17, 2026
Tags: Alex Adeniyi Dr Mutiu Agboke Felix Oloro Olaoluwa Adesanya