The governorship candidate for the Action Congress of Nigeria in the forthcoming election in Kogi State, Mr. Abubakar Audu, has said every step was being taken by the ACN and other stakeholders to ensure that every vote was counted during the election.
He also called on the people to help prevent rigging. He said electorates must protect their votes so that it would count after the exercise.
He stressed the need for the electorate to conduct themselves in an orderly and peaceful manner on the election day.
He said, “Each time I am out for campaign, I have always told the electorate that gone were the days that you cast your votes and forget about what happens next.
“After casting your votes, you must make sure that your votes are accounted for.
“You cast your vote, you wait for the votes to be counted, results to be declared and after the declaration of the results make sure that the result so declared are entered into the proper result sheet given by INEC because one of the rigging method in the past was that after declaring results, they wrote it on a piece of paper and make the electorate believe that the result sheets were not available and later they go and do whatever pleased their whims and caprices in the hideouts.
“So after casting their vote and declaring the result, it is their responsibility to ensure that the results are entered in the proper result sheet.
“After that they must make sure that the boxes are accompanied to the ward collation centre.”
He also urged the electorate not relent by monitoring the results from the ward collation centre to the local government centre up to the state collation centre.
He warned that ignoring any aspect of the security measure could give the other parties undue advantage of the situation.
He asked the people of the state to emulate those in Kano, Imo, Nassarawa and Zamfara states where votes were defended in the last election.
“I will also asked my people to emulate the examples of Lagos, Ogun, and Oyo States where the voters defended their votes without any fear,” he added.
He explained that he had embarked on an enlightenment campaign to sensitise the public on electoral fraud that had been the hallmark of elections in the state in the recent past.
