Simple guide to di Ondo state gubernatorial election

On Saturday, 16 November, eligible voters for Ondo state, southwest Nigeria go turnout to elect di next govnor of di state.

Di election go hold for 3,933 polling units across di 18 local government areas of di state.

Di Independent National Electoral Commission (Inec), di kontri electoral body say di total number of registered voters na 2,053,061, while 64,273 voters don collect dia Permanent Voters CarD (PVC), out of di 89,777 cards dem deliver to di state.

Ondo state election na off-cycle election. Wetin e mean be say dem no elect dia govnor wen oda states for di kontri dey do so for 2023 sake of one electoral palava wey happun for 2017.

Inec say dem go use technology wey include Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and di INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV) for di election to prevent magomago, to make di process dey easy for voters and to deliver results wit accuracy and speed.

Inec add say di technology go also enable real-time and transparent access to di result as dem come in.

Below na a simple guide to help you understand di election more.

Who be di candidates

18 political parties bin field candidates for di Ondo state gubernatorial election.

None of di political parties nominate female candidate, while di African Democratic Congress (ADC) nominate pesin wit disability.

Di name of di contestants and dia parties na;

Out of all di 17 candidates, sabi pipo say di main contest go be between di current state Govnor Lucky Aiyedatiwa wey dey run on di platform of di All Progressives Congress (APC) and Agboola Ajayi of di PDP.

Oga Aiyedatiwa na di former deputy govnor of di state wey become govnor afta di death of di govnor Rotimi Akeredolu wey die for December 2023. E dey complete di second term tenure of late Akeredolu.

Di oda main candidate na former deputy govnor, Agboola Ajayi, e dey run on di platform of di Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), di main opposition party for di state.

How Inec take dey prepare for di govnorship election

Ahead of di 16 November govnorship election, Inec say dem ready to conduct free, fair and credible election for di state.

Chairmo of di electoral body, Professor Mahmood Yakubu and some national commissioners don assess some local goments for di state.

Dem don train electoral officers and meet wit stakeholders like di traditional rulers, security, youths and media to follow dem tok on how di election go take dey successful.

"I don engage wit our own officials, security agencies and transport service providers here in Ondo State to assess our readiness and perfect our arrangements for di movement of ova 17,000 ad hoc and regular officials as well as large quantities of materials to 4,154 voting and collation locations," Prof Yakubu tok.

For voters wey dey riverine local goment areas, di chairmo assure dem say dem don make provision of logistics wey go carry di voting materials come dia areas.

Recently, govnorship candidates for di election bin sign one peace accord wey be dia commitment to allow for peaceful conduct throughout di electoral process.

Di electoral body advise citizens to avoid any act of violence wey go scata di election, like snatching and destroying electoral materials.

How to vote

Sensitive materials wey dem go use for di Ondo state govnorship election don already land Akure, di state capital, and officials of di Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) don receive am, Inec tok.

Di electoral body say polling units go open around 8:30am to enable voters to cast dia ballots.

Meanwhile, Inec officials dey expected to arrive polling units by at least 8:00am.

Na only pipo wey get di Permanent Voters Card (PVC) go dey allowed to vote.

Wen di voter approach di Inec officials, e go first show im PVC and di Inec pipo go check am wit di Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS).

Afta dat, di Inec pesin go also check di name of di voter for di voters register and mark am say e don dey accredited.

Di voter go den collect di ballot paper and go to di voting box to thumbprint on am bifor e go drop am inside di ballot box.

Inec officials go also apply ink on di thumb of di voter to show say di pesin don vote true-true.

Afta voting, di voter fit go house if e want, or e go stay some meters away from di voting area to wait for sorting and counting.

Security preparations for di election

A total number of 43,157 security personnel dey deployed for di election.

Nigeria Police go deploy 34,657 personnel to di polling units, wards/LGA collation centres plus oda strategic locations.

E dey expected say dem go deploy four police personnel go each polling unit.

Di Armed Forces and oda security agencies go also dey involved for di election.

Wen dem go announce di result

Di final step for di elections na di official announcement of election results by di electoral administrators.

Dis na how dem dey announce am for govnorship election according to Inec.

Di Presiding Officers go send results of di election to di RA Collation Officer.

RA Collation Officer go collate and send di result to di local government Collation Officer.

Di local government Collation Officer go collate di results and send to di State Returning Officer.

Di State Returning Officer go den collate di results from di LGA Collation Centres, and declare di result and return di winner as governor elect for di state.

Candidate for di election to di office of governor go dey declared winner if e get:

Di highest number of votes cast for di election; and

Not less dan one-quarter of all di votes cast in each of at least two-thirds of all di LGAs for di state.

Na afta all dis, di returning officer go declare di winner.

E fit take between one to three days depending.

For di last election for 10 October 2020, Inec declare di winner on 11, October 2020.