Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has declared that it would not allow voters to make use of their mobile telephone handsets during the period of casting their votes in Saturday’s presidential election.
Its resident electoral commissioner (REC) in Ogun State, Niyi Ijalaye, made the disclosure yesterday in Abeokuta during an interaction with journalists after a meeting with heads of security agencies ahead of the Saturday election.
Ijalaye said it is a criminal offence for voters to make use of their mobile phones at the polling centres, stressing that the development was part of the measures to guide against vote buying iduring the elections.
The Ogun REC, who stated that voters would neither be allowed to make phone calls, nor take pictures with their phones when casting their votes, also expressed the readiness of his commission to conduct free, fair and credible elections with the help of the various security agencies and other stakeholders.
“Maybe I need to emphasise this also that on voting day, when people come to the polling booths with their phones, when they approach the polling officer and they want to go in with their phones, they will not be allowed to use their phones to discuss with people or take pictures at that polling point where they will be voting. It is an offence, it is a crime and it will not be allowed.
“We have been strategising and re-strategising on ways forward to ensure that elections in Ogun State will be devoid of rancor or violence of any sort whatsoever.
That is what we have been doing and we want to seize this opportunity to appeal to the good people of Ogun State, the gateway state, to endeavor to just come out peacefully on Saturday and exercise their franchise, their civic responsibility to vote for people, candidates and parties of their choice.
“On no account will violence of any sort be tolerated in this state and that is what we have been discussing in the last two, three hours.’’
The state’s commissioner of police, Frank Mb, called on security personnel deployed for the election to maintain their political neutrality and provide a level playing ground for all the political parties.
