Report reaching CEOAFRICA News desk states that there is palpable tension in Ekiti as the people of the state go to polls today to elect the next occupier of the exalted Oke Bareke Government House from October 16 this year.

The tension is against the backdrop of the violence that had attended the build-up to the election and the assurances of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the police and other security agencies that the election would be free, fair, credible and devoid of rancour owing to the preparations which they claimed had gone into the exercise.

Although 18 political parties are fielding candidates in today’s contest, the candidates of the leading political parties are Governor Kayode Fayemi of the All Progressives Congress (APC); Mr. Ayo Fayose of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Hon. Opeyemi Bamidele of Labour Party (LP).

The three candidates who would lock horns today had traversed the length and breadth of the state to canvass votes and are highly expectant. Ahead of the governorship election, the Nigeria Police Force and other security operatives have already mounted strategic points and as well began enforcement of the restriction of movement into the state. Some of the operatives have already begun patrol of some flashpoints in the state. Apart from the officials to provide security on election day, the Inspector General of Police IGP, Mohammed Abubakar said there is going to be over 100 detachment of armed policemen patrolling every Senatorial District and a detachment of military men on standby to assist if or when the need arises.

The police had earlier in the week deployed three surveillance helicopters, 40 Amoured Personnel Carrier, APCs, a reinforcement team of police personnel as well as amphibious vehicles and other high-tech security gadgets. The zonal and Ekiti State Command are also expected to deploy their resources and personnel for the exercise.

The helicopters have been deployed in each of the three senatorial districts and are expected to conduct air patrol and surveillance as well as provide technical support services to the operatives on the ground. On the reason for such a massive deployment, Force Public Relations Officer, ACP Frank Mba, told Saturday Mirror that aside the electoral history of the South West, Ekiti remains strategic for the three major contending parties in the election, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, the All Progressives Congress APC and the Labour Party, LP.

According to him, Ekiti State shares boundaries with Kwara State to the north which is an APC-controlled state; Osun State to the west, also an APC-controlled state; Kogi State to the east, a PDPcontrolled state and Ondo State to the south, an LP-controlled state.

The IGP had earlier said the police had learnt it’s lessons from the electoral history of the South West and would not want to be caught napping this time. He cited the various postelection crises in the region, with specific reference to the 1983 crisis in the old Ondo State which comprised the present Ekiti State.

Meanwhile, in addition to the over 15,000 personnel deployed in Ekiti State, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC, yesterday disclosed that it had mobilised over 150 latest specie of sniffer dogs from Russia to comb the entire state for a peaceful and credible election. NSCDC Deputy Commandant General, Operations, Evans Ewurum, who is leading the corps operation in the election, gave the assurance that every necessary security arrangement had been made to ensure a hitch-free election.

“We are not here on a jamboree, we are not here to shoot anybody neither are we hunters but we are here to create an enabling environment for credible election in the state. “Because of what we heard, we have mobilised over 15,000 personnel to cover the 16 local government areas of the state. Every polling unit must show the presence of NSCDC officers with other security agencies”, he said. Ewurum added that the corps was expecting a serious synergy with other security agencies in the election.

“We have also mobilised our sniffer dogs, the latest dogs that arrived from Russia and Ukraine are all here to watch over the process and all the hot-spots in case anybody wants to plan any mischief. “Our anti-terrorism squad is here, counterterrorism is here. We also have our chemical and biological unit, the operations and disaster management unit is here.

You can see our ambulances are all here. In other words, we are highly equipped and well prepared with officers and men that have gotten the skills,” he said. He advised mischief makers to relocate from Ekiti as there would be no hiding place for them.

Also, apparently determined to make the Ekiti governorship election a success, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has deployed a total of 8,433 staff to conduct the election. Although there are fears of voter apathy in some quarters in view of the heavy security presence and those who had moved out of the state for fear, the figure of registered voters in the state is low.

Only 732, 166 eligible voters comprising 371,419 females and 360,747 males can vote in today’s election. But out of the figure, not more than 476,870 had collected from INEC as at today, their permanent voter cards (PVC), which qualify them to vote, according to sources in the electoral body. All is set in the 2,803 voting points across the 16 council areas of the state for the election.

The Independent National Electoral Commission which said it had done everything possible to make today’s election in Ekiti State the best ever conducted in the history of Nigeria, said it had taken several steps as well as innovations to ensure it is “one man one vote, one woman one vote, on youth one vote and ensure that all votes count.”

No fewer than 7,941 ad hoc staff employed for the election will be at their beats today for the exercise. They are made up of 2,195 presiding officers, 5,605 assistant registration officers and others. INEC chairman, Prof Attahiru Jega, said the commission had put necessary innovations which would make rigging and snatching of ballot boxes ineffective.

These innovations, he said, included customising ballot papers for the elections with different colours for each local government, customising the result sheets to ensure they are for the specific units and serialising the ballot boxes to prevent snatching.