The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)  has sought greater collaboration  with journalists and media executives in its quest to organise credible  and a hitch -free elections in Ekiti.
The electoral body also  hinted that it had detected 47,633 voter double registration on its portal ahead of the poll.
Top INEC officials made these known in Ado-Ekiti at the Traning/ Capacity Building For Journalists/ Media Executives On Constitutional and Legal Issues On Electoral Act 2022.
The  commission said that it is extremely difficult, if not impossible to outsmart the new technology  being deployed as it captures both finger prints and facial impression of eligible voters.
The National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Festus Okoye, disclosed that  Ekiti has  988,923 registered voters ,out of which 734,746 persons have collected their Permanent Voters Card for the election.
Okoye, added that  part of the constitutional frameworks designed for the success of any election, is freedom of press, warning that this shouldn’t be abused to prevent violence during election.
“Before a journalist can monitor election in any state, he must have good knowledge of the social, political, economic, and geographical composition of that environment.
“ He must also understand the security situation, because all these differ from state to state.
“They must also have a deep knowledge of the laws guiding the conduct of elections. They must know what laws permit regarding the information you dish out. Media personnel  are not permitted to give out  information that can mislead the populace and ignite violence on the day of election. They have to be accurate .
“In this election, we appeal to you to be neutral, non-partisan, ethical and professional in the discharge of your duties, so that we can record success together and conduct election that can be acceptable to all”, he said.
Okoye further added that the non-sensitive materials for the elections have been deployed to all the 16 LGAs noting that adhoc staff have been mobilised and trained.
“The commission on the election day will deploy the adhoc staff from a total of 104 registration centres, made up of 46 registration areas centres and 61 super registration area centres.
“The commission will also deploy 22,244 polling units in Ekiti State and will deploy slightly above 10,000 adhoc staff to conduct this election.
“I want to announce that the commission is happy and elated at the level of preparations for this election.
“All the 16 LGAs have received the full complement of all the non-sensitive materials. They have dispatched all the non-sensitive materials in accordance with all the registration areas and wards and in accordance with all the polling units.”
The Commission averred that  such people have had their registration invalidated to prevent double voting during election, with the aid of the Bimodal Voter Authentication System(BVAS) invented by INEC to sanitise its registers.
In his presentation, the INEC’s Head of Department, Information and Communication Technology, Titilayo Oderinde said no individual can exercise double franchise during election with the help of the ICT innovation.
He said : “During the just concluded Continuous Voter Registration exercise declared by INEC for intending voters to update their registration, a total of 124,963 persons registered in Ekiti.
“But it will marvel you that when  the number was subjected to BVAS scrutiny, a total of 47,633 were discovered to have registered twice and got expunged from the register.
“Though, the commission was so lenient that one of the double registrations was struck out leaving one for the voter to exercise his franchise. It is not applicable to a gender, the offence was committed by both genders.
“But I see no reason why people should be doing this when they can approach the commission for migration of their polling units, even if they leave their environment for another location”.
Also addressing the participants, the Resident Electoral Commissioner, Ekiti State, Dr. Adeniran Tella, appealed to voters not to treat their Permanent Voter Cards(PVCs) as instruments for mere identification, saying they are to be deployed to vote on election day.
“PVCs is not designed as  identification card, it is for voting. We want to do away with this voter apathy and we are starting with Ekiti election. I salute our women for participating well in registration. 71% of them had also collected their PVCs.
“We are assuring the People Living with Disabilities that their interests will be protected by the commission. They are Nigerians with inalienable rights to vote and we shall provide enabling environment for them to vote in this election, we have made adequate provision for them”.