Today, over eighty-four million registered Nigerian voters are casting their votes in various parts of the country in rescheduled Presidential and National Assembly elections. The election, which was earlier scheduled to hold on Saturday last week, sixteenth February, was postponed by INEC because of some challenges. While many Nigerians expressed disappointment over the shift on the dates for the election, many stakeholders believe that it is better to make sacrifice to achieve free, fair and credible election than to rush the process and got stuck in endless controversy.


So today, Seventy-three candidates are contesting the Presidential election; one thousand, eight hundred and eighty-six candidates are vying for one hundred and nine Senatorial Seats, while four thousand, six hundred and thirty-four candidates are for 360 House of Representatives seats.
This staggering number of candidates is a pointer that the nation’s democracy is advancing on a healthy kneels as it has generated zeal, interest and spirit of competition, which offer the electorate multiple options to choose from.
In spite of earlier challenges, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC said over one million electoral personnel; including four hundred thousand Corps Members have been deployed across the country for the exercise, while adequate election materials for all polling centres and voting points have been distributed. The Commission also assured that states like Anambra, where card readers and other sensitive materials were recently gutted by fire, will participate in today’s exercise as the burnt items had been replaced. 
Similarly, the Police have deployed over three hundred thousand personnel for the elections, while six Deputy Inspectors-General of Police have been deployed to supervise the exercise in the six Geo-political zones of the country. The Police Service Commission has equally announced that it would deploy over four hundred personnel to monitor the conduct of personnel during the elections to ascertain their adherence to professionalism as part of measures to ensure the credibility of the electoral process while INEC has accredited one hundred and forty-four Observer Groups to monitor the conduct of the elections.
These water tight arrangements have received a lot of commendations from stakeholders and uplifted the spirit of Nigerians and the International Community. However, as the saying goes, the taste of the pudding is in the eating. What happens today will confirm the honesty, sincerity and commitment of INEC, Security Agencies and other relevant authorities in the conduct of free, fair and credible elections. 
 For any election to be credible, all stakeholders should respect the rules, governing the process. The role of the Electoral Commission in every country is most crucial in ensuring free, fair and credible election. Therefore, there is need for INEC to remain independent and neutral in the conduct of the elections and should demonstrate transparency in all stages of today’s voting process as well as provide prompt and accurate information of its activities relating to the process to the public and put effective measures in place to respond to emergencies.
The Commission should entrench a model that meet international standards by avoiding acts that could cast doubt in the outcome of the elections, which may encourage post election protests that could result in loss of lives and property.
Most importantly, INEC should ensure that the results reflect the will of the people to protect the integrity of the process. Political parties and their candidates should adhere strictly to the two National Peace Accords they signed in Abuja. They should ensure that party agents should be responsible members of the parties not thugs who will resort to violence with little or no provocation and put the future of entire Nigerians in danger. 
On their part, security agencies should restrict themselves to their constitutional mandate of ensuring the safety of the electoral stakeholders, including the voters, candidates, poll workers, media and election observers. They should avoid being partisan in any form in order not to threaten the credibility of the election.
Governments should resist the temptation of interference in the electoral process or use of security apparatus to intimidate or suppress voters at the polling units. National and International Media and election Observers should be allowed to have easy access to monitor and evaluate the election process. Security in all the country boarders should also be strengthened to check infiltration by citizens of neighbouring countries.
Voters, on their part, should follow INEC regulations and guidelines in casting and protecting their votes. They should be bold and courageous to vote according to their conscience and shun all anti-democratic tendencies. 
It is important to stress that impersonation, vote selling or buying are criminal offenses with serious sanctions. Good luck Nigeria.


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