Ekiti governorship election as litmus test for 2023 polls

The June 18 Ekiti governorship election has been adjudged by stakeholders as one of the best elections in Nigeria in recent times.
The election which was generally peaceful, also witnessed some improvements in terms of organisation and logistics by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Some civil society organisations (CSOs), that monitored the poll, described it as a marked improvement, when compared with previous elections in Nigeria.
The Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD), scored INEC high on the conduct of the election.
Prof. Shola Omotola, Member, Centre for Democracy and Development Election Analysis Centre (CDD -EAC) and Professor of Political Science, Federal University, Oye-Ekiti said the election was well organised.
Omotola said that the conduct of the election by INEC was a significant improvement on previous elections.
He said that the general atmosphere of the election was peaceful and INEC officials arrived early for the conduct of the election.
He added that in all the 31 reported cases where the BVAS malfunctioned, 71 per cent of those cases were resolved within an hour.

The Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room (Situation Room) also rated INEC high in terms of logistics and commencement of voting in the election.
In an interim report jointly signed by the Convener, Ms Ene Obi; Co-conveners Ms Asma’u Joda and Mr James Ugochukwu, the organisation said it observed early arrival of poll officials and election materials in 93 per cent of the polling units visited.