WELCOME ADDRESS PRESENTED BY THE RESIDENT ELECTORAL COMMISSIONER, EKITI STATE, DR. TELLA ADENIRAN RAHMON AT THE STAKEHOLDERS MEETING HELD ON 2ND MARCH, 2022.
Protocol
Kabiyesi, Oba GABRIEL AYODELE ADEJUWON,
the Onisan of Isan – Ekiti (Chairman, Ekiti State Council of Obas)
Member of ICCES
Leadership of all Political Parties here present
Representatives of the CSO
Gentlemen of the Press
Distinguished ladies and gentlemen
It is my pleasure to welcome you all to this stakeholders’ meeting. With the Governorship election in Ekiti state just few months away, you will agree with me that this meeting is appropriate. In the planning of elections, every eligible voter is a stakeholder. It will interest you to know that the Commission has always involved stakeholders in all electoral activities throughout the electoral cycle.
In Ekiti state, I make bold to say that the stakeholders have been very cooperative since my assumption of office in Sept. 4, 2020 as the Resident Electoral Commissioner, Ekiti state, I can testify that the stakeholders have done marvelously well in the area of sensitization and mobilization of the citizens for all activities especially the on-going Continuous Voter Registration.
My profound gratitude goes to our Traditional Rulers for standing by us every time; and making sure that their subjects get informed about our activities. To them I say:
Ki ade ki o pe l’ori;
Ki ase ki o pe l’enu;
Ki irukere ki o je, ki o di okinni;
Ki esin oba ki o je oko pe.
I must not fail to thank the leadership of all the religious bodies in Ekiti for their constant and repeated prayers that have sustained us till date. May the God we all serve continue to show you the way. I must not fail to thank the Media in Ekiti state for the professional manner in which the activities of INEC is being reported and hype in their various programmes in their respective medium, you have really demonstrated that you are a dependable ally in times of need. Thank you for being there always. May the heavens reward you for the patriotism demonstrated for your country Nigeria and Ekiti state in particular. I will be an ingrate if I did not acknowledge the tremendous effort put in by our ever supportive and courageous Civil Society Organizations, market women and men Organizations, governmental agencies (NOA, NYSC and Security Agencies) in ensuring that electoral activities in the state stand the test of time. Of course, our critical stakeholders – the political parties, for crucial role you have played at one point or the other especially, during the just concluded party primaries. We appreciate you all.
You will observe that the off seasons conducted since after the 2019 General Election including Anambra and FCT elections have enabled us to fine tune many of our activities. The Commission have improved on the deployment of personnel for elections, addressed some of the intractable challenges to the functionality of new technological innovations for elections as is able to collate, transmit and declare results of elections more accurately and speedily, resulting to better outcomes of our elections as evident in FCT election of which I was part of.
Security remains a key issue in our elections. Fortunately, the Commission has a mechanism for discussing election security through Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES) involving all security agencies in the country with the assistance of this group, we are mapping out the flash points in the state and we will continue to work under the auspices of ICCES to ensure that the environment for election in Ekiti state is secure for voters, electoral official, observers, the media and all those with legitimate reasons to be involved in electoral activities in the state.
CONCLUSION
Ladies and gentlemen, to conduct free, fair, credible and acceptable election is quite an arduous task but I want to assure you that the Commission is not leaving anything to chance. Undoubtedly, we cannot achieve a seamless and successful election without your cooperation. We solicit for your unalloyed support and genuine advice on every aspect of our operations. We all have crucial roles to play to ensure a peaceful and credible outcome, which will further affirm the maturity of our electoral process in particular and our democracy in general.
Finally, I wish to conclude by re-assuring you that INEC is committed to credible elections. We will do everything within the ambit of the law to ensure that your votes count. It is our conviction that this meeting will provide the catalyst for more sustainable engagement that will lead to a conducive environment for sustainable democracy. We are determined to conduct our best election ever so as to raise the bar of the best performance of INEC in the recent time to an enviable and commendable standard that will stand the test of time and free of any appearance of violence.
Dr. Tella Adeniran Rahmon
Resident Electoral Commissioner,
Ekiti State
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