By Toba Babalola
Towards ensuring a free, fair and transparent local government election in Ekiti State in December, the Ekiti State Independent Electoral Commission (EKSIEC) has organized a capacity building workshop for Electoral officers, Assistant Electoral Officers, as well as Management and Staff of the Commission.
The Chairman of the Ekiti State Independent Electoral Commission, Justice Babajide Aladejana, called on eligible voters to turn out in large numbers for the exercise.
The EKSIEC Chairman, Justice Jide Aladejana, explained that the training was to refresh the knowledge of the officers on the electoral process with a view to enabling them perform optimally in the forthcoming local government poll.
The Ekiti SIEC Boss, who said that voters participation in the election was crucial to the success of the election, urged people of voting age to turn out enmasse to cast their votes on the election for candidates of their choice on December 4.
Justice Aladejana explained that the commission, in line with its mandate, had been fair to all political parties in the screening of their candidates for the poll, while reiterating the stands of the electoral body to be independent in the conduct of the election without government interference.
He, again, reiterated the readiness of EKSIEC to conduct a free, fair and credible poll.
Papers on the roles of stakeholders in the conduct of local government election, Operational procedures for the conduct of local government election, Technology as well as, Determination of Electoral integrity in the conduct of local elections were delivered by resource persons, who included a former INEC Administrative Secretary. Mr Musliu Omoleke.
Declaring the workshop open, a former Ekiti State Head of Service, Mr Olubunmi Famosaya, who spoke on the roles of Political actors, religious leaders, traditional rulers and the media in the electioneering process, also emphasized on adequate sensitization of voters’ participation in the local government election.
