Armed personnel of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, the Nigeria Immigration Service, NIS, and the Amotekun Corps were on Saturday deployed to the polling unit where Ekiti State Governor, Biodun Oyebanji, was expected to cast his vote.

Officials of the three security agencies arrived at the polling centre at about the same time, suggesting a coordinated security operation around the venue.

The operatives were strategically stationed within and around the polling area to maintain order, prevent vote buying and forestall any form of violence capable of disrupting the electoral process.

The local government election is being conducted across the 16 local government areas of Ekiti State under the supervision of the Ekiti State Independent Electoral Commission, EKSIEC, with voters electing chairmen and councillors for the various councils.

Several political parties are participating in the election, including the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, African Democratic Congress, ADC, Accord Party, Labour Party, New Nigeria Peoples Party, NNPP, Action Peoples Party, APP, and the Action Democratic Party, ADP, among others.

Political analysts and observers are closely watching the exercise, viewing it as an important indicator of public sentiment and political strength within the state.

Former governorship aspirant of the Nigerian Democratic Congress, NDC, in Taraba State, Philip Johnson, has dumped the party, alleging that the governorship primary election was manipulated against him.

Johnson, in a resignation letter addressed to the Taraba State Chairman of the NDC, alleged that he legitimately won the party’s governorship primary election conducted across the state’s 16 local government areas but was later denied victory through what he described as an alteration of results.

He claimed that the primary election was conducted peacefully and transparently, with the collation of results indicating that he emerged victorious.

He, however, alleged that at the point of official declaration, the party’s congress panel announced that the final results would be declared in Abuja on the directive of the National Secretariat.

The former NDC governorship aspirant further alleged that the outcome was subsequently changed in favour of another aspirant whom he claimed to have defeated at the polls.

He accused the party of abandoning the principles of justice, fairness, and democratic values upon which it was founded, lamenting that the declared candidate continued to enjoy the support of the party leadership while his complaints were ignored.

“It is unfortunate that a party which presented itself as a platform for progressive change and democratic values has chosen to embrace the very practices it was expected to reject,” he stated in the letter.