The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says plans are underway to ensure all forms of electoral fraud are checked during the gubernatorial elections in Ekiti and Osun States.

Festus Okoye, INEC spokesman said on Sunday in Lagos that with the deployment of Bimodal Voter Accreditation System, BVAS, only credible votes will count during the elections billed to hold on June 18 and July 16 in Ekiti and Osunrespectively.

“With the introduction of BVAS, people believe that ghosts will not come to vote. People believe that those who have quarantined Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) will not be in a position to use them. So, only the living will cast their votes in Osun and Ekiti.

“We are putting everything in place to make sure that we conduct a good election in both states. We are preparing for these two elections and we are preparing well,” Mr Okoye added.

Mr Okoye said that preparations were on top gear to deliver free, fair, transparent and inclusive elections in the two states as a litmus test for the 2023 general elections.

The INEC spokesman said the commission remained confident of the optimal performance of the BVAS machines.

“We are confident that whatever issues there are with the BVAS have been resolved, and we are expecting to have a very good accreditation process at the elections,” he said.

On riverine areas in Osun, Okoye said the commission was in discussion with the marine union and Nigerian Navy for logistics and security.

According to him, the commission has also started the process of recruitment of ad hoc staff that will be used for the two elections.

On the efforts to prevent recurrent trend of voter apathy at the Ekiti and Osun governorship polls, Okoye urged political parties to join the commission in voter mobilisation.

“The conduct of elections and management of elections and ensuring that elections are free, fair, transparent and inclusive remain a multi multi stakeholder venture.

“No individual, no agency and no commission can do it alone. The main task of voter mobilisation still remains with political parties.

“So, the political parties must mobilise these voters to the polling units because the voters are to vote for them. Parties must do their own bit in terms of voter mobilisation.

“Civil society groups and organisations also have a role and a responsibility in this area. The same is with the media and other critic stakeholders,” he said.

Okoye said that INEC was also going to hold top level security meetings with different security agencies under its auspices of Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES) to also build up confidence in people to come out and vote without fear of violence.

He added: “So, we want a situation where people will go to the polling units with full confidence that nothing bad will happen to them.

“People must have hope that the electoral management body will do what is right in terms of making sure that the only determinant of who gets elected and who does not get elected, will revolve around the votes of the people cast at the polling units.

“On our own part, we are going to accelerate, in a very aggressive manner, civic and voter education in Ekiti and Osun to make sure that people come out to vote.

“The issue of voter apathy must be tackled headlong and must be a multi-stakeholders aggressive venture. Nigerians must be made to understand that they hold the power through their votes and must shun selling their votes on election day.”