By Our Reporter
The Coalition of Democrats for Electoral Reform (CODER) has commended the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), security agencies and voters in Osun State for the peaceful conduct of last Saturday's governorship election in the state.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared the incumbent, Governor Ademola Adeleke of Accord Party (AP) winner, polling a total of 511,067 votes to defeat his closest rival, Bola Oyebamiji of the All Progressives Congress (APC), who scored 444,815 votes.
CODER, in a statement jointly signed by Comrade Michael Popoola Ajayi and Alhassan Adamu, copy of which was made available to newsmen on Monday, said its assessment of the electoral process showed noticeable improvements in the management of the election compared with challenges recorded during previous electoral exercises.
The coalition particularly praised INEC for its handling of logistics, deployment of electoral materials and personnel, voter accreditation through the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), professional conduct of its officials, collation of results and uploading of polling-unit results on the INEC Result Viewing (IReV) portal.
It also commended the Commission for the eventual declaration of the election result, describing the effective deployment of technology, especially BVAS and IReV, as factors that contributed to greater transparency and public confidence in the process.
"While acknowledging that there may still be areas requiring improvement, CODER believes that the overall performance of INEC demonstrates that the Commission is capable of learning from past experiences and progressively improving the quality of election management in Nigeria," the statement said.
The group also applauded the Nigeria Police Force and other security agencies for their handling of security concerns before, during and after the election.
According to CODER, the commendation was particularly significant given the tension and apprehension over possible violence in the days leading to the poll, saying that the ability of the security agencies to maintain relative peace and order allowed citizens to exercise their democratic rights without widespread disruption.
It, therefore, urged the security agencies to sustain the level of professionalism, impartiality and commitment demonstrated during the election in future electoral contests.
The coalition also commended Osun voters for what it described as impressive participation, noting that the turnout of more than 50 per cent of collected Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) demonstrated a high level of political awareness among the electorate.
It praised voters who conducted themselves peacefully and resisted attempts to provoke violence or disrupt the electoral process.
According to CODER, the Osun election provided important lessons for the continued development of Nigeria’s democracy, stressing that credible elections require the collective commitment of INEC, political parties, candidates, security agencies, civil society organisations, the media and the electorate.
The coalition, therefore, urged political parties and candidates to accept the outcome of the election in the spirit of democratic responsibility.
It advised those with legitimate grievances to seek redress through appropriate legal and constitutional channels rather than resorting to actions capable of undermining peace and democratic stability.
CODER also called on INEC to consolidate the gains recorded during the Osun election while addressing shortcomings identified in the electoral process.
The coalition described the August 15 governorship election as an "encouraging step" towards achieving more transparent, credible, peaceful and participatory elections in Nigeria.
It reaffirmed its commitment to electoral reform, democratic accountability, good governance and the strengthening of Nigeria’s democratic institutions.
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