Date: 2019-01-18

INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in Kwara, Malam Garba Attahiru-Madami, says he will be fair to all political parties participating in the forthcoming general elections in the state.

Attahiru-Madami made the promise on Thursday in Ilorin, while speaking at the signing of peace accord by all the 57 political parties that fielded candidates for the general elections.

News men report that chairmen of 25 of the 57 political parties signed the peace accord witnessed by representatives of security agencies in the state.

"I promise all of you that I will be fair to all concern; all political parties will be accorded the level playing field.

"Political parties are our critical stakeholders, we value you; there can be no INEC without the political parties," Madami said.

He appealed to leaders of the political parties not to see the election as a do or die affairs and play the game according to the rules.

Madami also advised leadership of the political parties to ensure that peace reign supreme among the people and their supporters before, during and after the elections.

According to him, Kwara is a State of Harmony, but lately, the harmony and peace is being threatened by political crises.

"We want to return back to the State of Harmony and Peace through the signing of the peace accord among the political players in the state.

"The thugs that are causing violence are your supporters and your people; you should talk to them that politics is not a do or die affairs.

"You are looking for power to serve people, if the people you want to serve are being maimed or killed, who do you want to serve then?," REC asked the politicians.

Madami reiterated his commitment to the conduct of free, fair, credible and acceptable elections that all people of Kwara would be proud of and applauded by the international bodies.

He assured people of the state that their votes would count, appealing to those that have not collected their PVCs to do so to enable them to vote.

The REC added that Smart Card Readers would be used during the elections, saying that they have been upgraded for the task.

He also said the commission had cancelled the use of Incidence Form for those who could not be captured by the card readers, adding that another mean had been devised for them to vote.

Madami said that there were a total of 1, 870 polling units in the state and 193 Registration Areas (RAs). He said that 11, 992 ad hoc and permanent staff would be deployed for the elections.

Madami, who said there were still 305, 857 PVCs yet to be collected, hoped that before the elections, the PVCs collection would hit 1.3 million.

In his remarks, the Commissioner of Police in Kwara, CP Bashir Makama, said that the police would not settle for anything less than peace before, during and after the elections.

Makama urged political parties' leaders to play by the rules and advise their supporters to shun violence before, during and after the elections.

The police chief also promised that his men would do their best to maintain peace before, during and after the elections. (NAN)