Ondo: INEC assures neutrality, warns against violence, vote-buying in 2027

By Boye Oyeyemi

The Independent National Electoral Commission has assured stakeholders in Ondo State that it will remain neutral in the 2027 general elections, while calling on political parties, candidates and voters to shun violence and other acts capable of undermining the polls.

The Resident Electoral Commissioner in the state, Dr. Mutiu Agboke, gave the assurance on Thursday during a stakeholders’ meeting involving political parties, security agencies, traditional rulers, religious leaders, transport unions and other groups in Akure North and Akure South Local Government Areas.

Agboke, who also visited the traditional rulers of Iju and Ita-Ogbolu, said the engagement was aimed at ensuring that all stakeholders worked together to deliver peaceful, free, fair and credible elections.

He said the responsibility of conducting credible elections went beyond INEC, stressing that security agencies, traditional institutions and transport unions had important roles to play in protecting voters, officials and electoral materials.

The REC said INEC would not tolerate partisan conduct, vote-buying, intimidation or violence, stressing that only votes legally cast and properly counted would determine the winners of the election.

He said, “We don’t want anybody to engage in violence. Nobody should allow himself or his wards to be used for violence, and everybody should desist from vote-buying.”

Agboke added that INEC officials had been trained to operate in line with the Electoral Act and the commission’s guidelines, assuring stakeholders that preparations for the 2027 elections had commenced.

Responding, the traditional rulers, including the Ogbolu of Ita-Ogbolu, Oba Idowu Faborode, and the Okiti of Iju, Oba Amos Farukanmi, pledged to sensitise their subjects on peaceful participation, while security agencies and transport unions promised adequate support for the movement of personnel and electoral materials.