By Jimoh Babatunde    & Daniel Eteghe
EKITI State Governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, yesterday, said the task of defending the nation’s nascent democracy was beyond the responsibility of  National Independent Electoral Commission, INEC.
The Governor, who spoke with reporters at the new domestic terminal of the Murtala Muhammed Airport, IKeja, Lagos, asked Nigerians to continue to defend their votes in the coming general elections.

He said: “Well,  I think it (election) goes beyond INEC.  INEC should define the direction it wants to go and we as Nigerians should insist on the kind of elections we want to have. To the best of our knowledge, Professor Attahiru Jega is genuinely interested in making a difference.

“Attahiru Jega on his own cannot make that difference. He needs the security agencies; we need the Nigerian people. We must insist as politicians on a level playing field and we must monitor our vote.

“It is about mandate protection, it is about insisting on our rights and it is about ensuring accountability. If we vote credible leaders into office then we get credible governance.”

Speaking on the automatic tickets given to serving public officers by some political parties, Fayemi said: “You know I am not a PDP member, so I can’t tell you about automatic ticket. In our party the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, it doesn’t happen.”