The Transition Monitoring Group (TMG), has identified nine hot-spot areas in Ekit state as residents troop out to vote their candidates of choice.
The election has been largely marred by reported cases of vote buying involving the two major parties - Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and All Progressives Congress (APC).
The Nigeria Police Force deployed 30,000 police personnel for the exercise, justifying it by describing Ekiti state as a 'flash-point' for crime.
Police personnel keeping an eye on the streets as voting continues in Ekiti state
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TMG has reeled out the areas likely to be hotbeds as the election proceeds. They are:
1. Ado Ekiti area (Ajilosun, Ijigbo and Fajuyi)
2. Oye Ekiti
3. Ikole Ekiti
4. Ikere Ekiti
5. Isan
6. Ido Osi
7. Efon
Addressing newsmen in Ado Ekiti, the chairperson of TMG, Dr. Abiola Akiyode-Afolabi, said the level of tension in the state is at present is high and a direct threat to voter turnout.
Expressing concerns about the large deployment of police personnel in the state for the election, TMG said the huge number of police is not the best for the polity.
According to her, over-deployment of security agents and political violence are a vicious cycle that undermines the credibility of the process.
Lamenting the activities of politicians in the election process, she said that Ekiti is a fragile state and that the election should be conducted in a manner that ensures safety of lives and properties.
“The level of tension in Ekiti state at present is high and a high direct threat to voter turnout, the credibility of the process and the peaceful conduct of the elections,” she said.
While commending the preparation of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the TMG chairperson urged the electorate to defy threats and coercion by turning out en-masse to exercise their franchise.
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Meanwhile, a resident of Ado Ekiti, the Ekiti state capital, has accused personnel of the Nigeria Police Force of assaulting voters in her polling unit.
Revealing this via her Twitter handle @MrsBlinky_, the resident simply referred to as 'Abisola', said the polling unit at Ado community high school was not well coordinated, adding that the security agents weren't helpful in ensuring the exercise was hitch-free.
“One of the police officers was hitting voters with a leg of a plastic table. A police woman threatened to use tear gas on us, she actually brought it out,” she tweeted.
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Source: Naija.ng