Ekiti Gov Poll: Police Warn Against Vote Trading As APC, PDP, ADC Others Make Last- minute Push
With less than 24 hours to the off-cycle governorship election in Ekiti state, the Police have warned against vote trading, stressing that the law will take its course against those caught in the act.
The Police also assured that the security approach for the election will ensure it is violence-free and concluded without any serious security breaches.
This comes as political parties, their candidates and loyalists were seen making a last-minute push and preparing for the Saturday poll.
The Independent National Electoral Commission INEC has cleared no fewer than 14 registered political parties’ governorship candidates) to contest and participate in the election.
The political parties that made the INEC final lists are: The Accord, AAC, ADC, ADP, APC, APM, APP, LP, NNPP, PRP, PDP, YPP and ZLP.
INEC had disclosed that a total of 1,028,929 Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs) had been collected across Ekiti State ahead of Saturday’s governorship election, representing 97.1 per cent of registered voters and a slight increase from the figures recorded in 2023.
According to the Commission, the number of registered voters in Ekiti increased from 987,647 recorded in 2023 to 1,059,360 in 2026 following the suspension of the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise on 15 May and the subsequent clean-up of the voters’ register.
On the security arrangements, the Commissioner for the Ekiti State Governorship Election, CP Abayomi Shogunle, said adequate measures have been put in place to secure and protect all those involved in the election.
He stated this during an interactive session with journalists convened by the International Press Centre (IPC) in Ado-Ekiti yesterday.
Shogunle said the Inspector General of Police, Mr Tunji Disu, had approved an operational order that states the Police’s mission, what to do, and how to go about it.
On vote-buying and trading, he said voters are being educated and enlightened against it, as provided for in the 2026 Electoral Act, recently signed into law.
“It is now part of the act that the law has stated to be an offence. The issue of vote buying has been clearly defined in the current Electoral Act. If we see anything of the sort, we will do what the law requires.
“We are also having training for police officers who will be involved in this election to implement what they are asked to do. We are going to look out for it. Once we see it, we are going to do what the law requires us to do, which is to arrest and put the affected person to justice,” he said.
Throwing more light on the security arrangement, he said they have identified the peculiarities of various areas of the State.
He added that the operational order for the election is centred on a multi-layered security framework.
“We are putting out a specific deployment to take charge of specific issues, some of which have been raised.
“With the security approach we have on the ground, I am confident that this election will be violence-free and that the election will be concluded without any serious security breach.
“This is because the likely things that might cause security issues have already been taken care of. Looking at events in the last month, there has been like zero incidence recorded,” the Police chief said.
He said this was the outcome of the earlier implementation of the security framework, which started about 1.5 months ago.
Shogunle said the framework will remain on the ground even after the election results are announced.
