Babatope Okeowo 
An international observer, International Police Chaplain Sustainable Development and Law Enforcement said on Monday that the final result declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) reflects the records of the ballot boxes at polling units.
The Director of Administration and Organisations of the African Regional Command, Mr Oscar David, in his report, urged candidates and political actors to resort to legal channels in case of contestation and disagreement in results to sustain social peace and avoid the breakdown of law and order.
Oscar noted that the election was very peaceful, transparent, credible, and successful, with minimal incidences and complaints by party agents at polling units and collation centres.
The report read “The IPCSL mission commends the People of Ondo State in their conduct and cooperation with our Time Members across the LGAs, Political Parties, and all Stakeholders to enable the environment towards successful election, with a show of patriotism and democratic culture, while urging all to continue to work to preserve national peace and stability to consolidate democracy and the rule of law, especially in a challenging socio-political context in the country.
“The Mission asserts, without fear of any contradictions, that the final result declared by INEC truly reflects the records of the ballot boxes at Polling Units. IPCSL welcomes the good collaboration between the various International Missions and Domestic Observers. Likewise, we salute the quality of the exchanges and shared experiences in the Mission to Ondo State.”
The observer recommended that INEC should continue to interact with Political Parties and the Civil Society Community to strengthen and deepen the nation’s Democracy while more intense voter education and mass sensitization by both electoral bodies and political parties should be strengthened.
According to the group, “As was made in our Edo Report, our Mission Team recommends further review of the Electoral Laws and Guidelines to tackle a few challenges and incidences observed that need adequate legislation. Further improvement in security strategies to build more confidence and reduce voter suppression”.
Also, the mission team headed by the Nigerian Director of Political and Democratic Affairs, Hon. Seye Oyetade, said it deployed 50 director officials of its organization to the three senatorial districts of the state while engaging and collaborating with 20 domestic observer organizations that mobilized and deployed 10 experienced persons each, making a total of 200 Domestic Officials who were sent to the 18 Local Government Areas of the State.
“Our Mission Team observed further improvements in the mobilization and participation of the Security apparatus in the Ondo Election. Unlike the Edo Election, wherein the Military was over-mobilized and seen in almost every nook and cranny, the Ondo scenario was largely the Police and Civil Defense Corps that were seen at Polling Units and Streets, with the Army generally restricted to border areas and flashpoints.
“The Security conducted itself professionally and did not interfere in the processes. IPCSL commends the performance of the Security Agencies in this Election.
“Electoral Officials: INEC appears to be intense in training and re-training of its Staff, and Ad-Hoc Workers as the Ondo Election largely witnessed an improved performance in the Service of Electoral Officials, with negligible cases of poor handling of Equipment and Voters on the part of the Electoral Officials. The BVAS functioned well, except in isolated cases, while accreditation, voting, counting, and collation exercises were generally satisfactory and acceptable by the Party Agents on the ground, as only in very few Polling Units did we observe rancour or rejection of outcome at the point of counting.
“On voting day, our mission randomly visited over 200 polling stations across the 18 Local Government Areas, and in randomly selected Wards. Most Polling Units opened at the official time (8:30 a.m.); some were, however, late in opening owing to transportation logistics as they informed us.”
He noted that 17 political parties fielded candidates for the election, however, only two were highly visible and did remarkable mobilizations of party agents across the Polling Units of the 18 LGAs of the State.
“The 2 Parties were the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) and People’s Democratic Party (PDP). Both Parties performed above average in the mobilization of Agents and Electorates, while others were almost absent on the voting day.
“In terms of overall voter mobilization, the attendance and turnout in Polling Units varied significantly across LGAs; some witnessed massive voter turnout, while some experienced notable voter apathy, which was attributed to low morale resulting from economic hardship in the country generally, coupled with dwindling interest of the citizen in political activities.”
He noted that some isolated incidences of vote trading were observed in Idanre LGA.
“In Idanre, a violent incident was recorded wherein a young man who was alleged to have snatched two ballot boxes was attacked and stabbed with broken bottles to the point of endangering of life. A man was caught with some large volume of money on Election Day in the Akoko area, but claimed he was a cocoa trader.”
