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Any
elected official that fails to meet the yearnings of the electorate
would meet his/her waterloo during the next election because Nigerian
voters are now conscious of their power to effect changes, the Ondo
State resident electoral commissioner, Akin Orebiyi said yesterday in
Akure.

Mr Orebiyi, who
made the observation while presenting a certificate of return to the
lawmaker representing Akure North State Constituency in the state
Assembly, Akindele Adeniyi, said it was clear from the results of the
last elections that the electorate voted for candidates of their choice
without coercion.

He added that
political parties could no longer foist their candidates on the
electorate; a development which he noted was good for the advancement
of the nation. The INEC boss also advised the newly elected lawmakers
to carry their opponents along in the interest of development.

“The era of forcing candidates on the electorate is gone, we are now in the era where people’s votes count”, he said.

Mr Adeniyi
commended the INEC Chairman, Attaihru Jega, for providing a level
playing ground for all the political parties. He equally praised
President Goodluck Jonathan for allowing INEC to serve as unbiased
umpire.

“Jega has written
his name in gold for putting an end to election debacle that has
continued to hunt the nation in the past,” he said.

Fight poverty

In Adamawa, INEC
also issued certificates of returns to 36 lawmakers-elect in the state.
Nura Yakubu, INEC’S National commissioner in charge of Adamawa, Taraba
and Gombe, who presented the certificate to senators-elect, members-
elect of federal house of representative and elected members of the
state house of assembly, revealed voters turnout averaged 51% for the
election in the state.

“A total of 12
political parties sponsored 201 candidates to contest for the 25 state
house of assembly seats. Nine political parties sponsored 51 candidates
to contest for the eight house of representative seats, while another
nine political parties sponsored 23 candidates to contest for the three
senatorial seats,” he said.

Three women,
Aishatu Dahiru Ahmed (Yola North, Yola South and Girei federal
constituency); Wilbina Jackson, Guyuk state constituency and Wale Fwa,
representing Demsa constituency, were the only female elected
politicians in the state.

The lawmakers,
through their spokesperson, condemned the post-presidential elections
violence and urged the government to ensure that the perpetrators of
the “dastardly act” were brought to book.

However, Bello
Tukur, a former deputy governor and senator-elect representing Adamawa
central, tasked the government to forestall its reoccurrence in the
future.

Mr Tukur who
berated the post election violence as “unfortunate development” blamed
it on the endemic poverty and backwardness of the affected areas.

“All these problems that happened in the North-East and North West
region,” Mr Tukur said. “Happened greatly in this region because of the
level of poverty in these two regions is very high. And if we don’t
rise up to the occasion these problems will continue to consume us and
we will continue to be marginalized”.