The newly appointed INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) for Osun, Dr Mutiu Agboke, has said the era of election rigging in Nigeria has gone for good.
Agboke said this in Osogbo on Saturday while addressing members of staff of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
According to him, the manipulation of the election process, through any means, was no longer possible under the present arrangements, especially with the introduction of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) into the system.
Agboke said the new device had “technically murdered” all forms of election rigging in the country.
He pledged to uphold the tenets of the Commission by ensuring that people’s votes count in the 2023 general elections.
He said: “My responsibility is to uphold the value of INEC, and the value of INEC is to ensure that the people’s votes count in the election that will be conducted.
“I want to assure the electorate in the state that we will not disallow them from getting the fruit of the votes, and the fruit of their votes is to vote in a direction, and get results in that direction.
“The era of rigging is gone. Rigging has been technically murdered by our process and procedure, and that is what BVAS has come to achieve,” he said.
Continuing, the REC said “So, in the 2023 election, INEC will ensure that the votes of the people of Osun reflect their desire.
“Nobody will be deprived of his right to cast his or her vote, and the commission will do the needful at all times”.