From Priscilla Ediare, Ado Ekiti
The Social Democratic Party (SDP) governorship candidate and former Ekiti State governor, Asiwaju Segun Oni, has, again, advised people of the state not to release their voter cards to “anybody” to avoid being disenfranchised.
The SDP candidate who gave the advice during a chat with the Ekiti Build Back Better (EBBB), a pro-Segun Oni group, at Ifaki-Ekiti last weekend, said explicitly, “let me plead with all the people having voter cards; don’t release your cards to anybody. The fraudulent people would come with money and promises to convince you. They would tell you that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has detected errors in the voter cards, and they would bring them back after the mistakes have been supposedly rectified. Don’t listen to them.
“These fraudulent people have a device to change your voting destination to another far area and you won’t detect this until you get to your polling booth on the election day to vote.
“For instance, if you have registered to vote in a polling unit in Ekiti-East Local Government Area, they would change it to another polling unit, probably, in Efon Local Government Area; and by so doing, you are disenfranchised, because there will be no movement of people until after the election time.”
According to a press statement made available by Idowu Adelusi, the spokesman of the group, to journalists in Ado Ekiti, the state capital, on Thursday, the former governor stated further: “I implore all government workers, artisans, traders, pensioners, students, lecturers and other ethnic groups to protect their voter cards in the same way they protect their bank ATM cards.
“Don’t allow anybody to use the money to disenfranchise you; your vote is your power to remove the All Progressives Congress (APC) government that has brought untold hardship to you.
“Vote for Segun Oni, vote for the SDP; don’t fear any form of intimidation or harassment. Stand up as Ekiti people; Ekiti are not cowards! they are warriors; they are known to conquer.
“They are Omoluabi; Ekiti belongs to all of us,” Oni said.