Stakeholders have lauded the peaceful conduct of Saturday’s Kogi governorship election, describing it as the most peaceful.

A cross-section of stakeholders who spoke with journalists in Lokoja on Monday also commended the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for organising a hitch-free election.

Ibrahim Ahmed, a Kogi-based legal practitioner, expressed satisfaction with the conduct of the election, which he described as “very free, fair and peaceful.”

Mr Ahmed attributed the success of the election to the heavy presence of security personnel in the state.

“With that huge security presence, no right-thinking human being would think of fomenting any trouble during the exercise.

“Unlike the previous elections, Saturday’s election was free, fair, peaceful and credible. If you listen to the three leading candidates in the election: Usman Ododo, Murtala Ajaka and Dino Melaye, they all testified that the election was very peaceful and devoid of any violence.

“Even when there was a report of already prepared results, INEC quickly took a decision by slating a rerun for Nov.18. I think this a plus to INEC and the security operatives in the state.

“If you can notice around the Lokoja metropolis, you can see that in spite of the little gab, people are celebrating the peaceful and successful conduct of the election,” he said.

John Segun, a businessman, expressed gratitude to God for preventing a repeat of 2019 election violence in Saturday’s governorship election.

According to him, this is the very first time in history that Kogi got it right, devoid of bloodletting and destruction of lives and property.

“As we give thanks to God, we also need to thank the security operatives and INEC for performing excellently this time around. We hope things will continue this way, ” he said.

Also speaking, Fatima Abdullahi, a retired civil servant, was full of praise to the security operatives and INEC for displaying professionalism in the conduct of the election.

Mr Abdullahi, who expressed joy over the peaceful conduct of the election, said INEC needed to sit up in terms of monitoring the activities of its personnel, some of whom she claimed do not mean well for the commission.

‘From what we saw last Saturday, where results sheets were already ready before the commencement of the election, there is a need for an independent body to monitor the activities of INEC staff.

“Some of them are out to make money instead of serving this nation faithfully and truthfully toward its progress. That madness must be nibbed in the bud,” she said.

However, Eunice Bimbole, the executive director, Challenge Parenthood Initiative (CPI), a non-governmental organisation (NGO), said that some gaps were noticed during the election and suggested that INEC should have an independent monitoring body.

“It’s clear that INEC is not Independent because there’s a lot of manipulation within the commission, which makes it not Independent anymore.

“As it is, we saw a lot of influence. So moving forward, there will be a need for an independent body that could also monitor the conduct of INEC during elections.

“Although generally, there’s a lot of improvement in the conduct of the election, in Kogi, there’s a lot that needed to be done. We have noticed some gaps that need to be worked on.

“The security arrangements are commendable, looking at 2019 and what happened then in terms of violence. The huge deployment of security agencies gave the people assurance that all was well and, indeed, all went well during the off-cycle election.

“This election was devoid of casualties, and we commend security operatives for that,” she said.

The executive director wondered why INEC went ahead to declare a winner in the election after scheduling a rerun for Nov 18.

“The question is, why announce the result when you quite know that the election is not concluded? I think INEC has to explain to Nigerians and particularly Kogi citizens, why it went ahead to announce such a result.

“Since it has announced the result and declared a winner, is there any need for the rerun on Nov. 18,” she said.

(NAN)