By Olasunkanmi Akoni & Monsur Olowoopejo
Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State along with other elected candidates in the just concluded April general elections on Monday received their certificates of return for emerging winners in the contest just as he said the job of building the nation starts in earnest.

Fashola who received the certificate at the INEC headquarters in Yaba, was full of commendation for Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC for delivering credible elections by many standards and noted that the success of the elections is an indication that political stability has come to stay.

He said; “having conducted elections which have been successful by many standards, again and again; on behalf of the people of Lagos we commend you and the task of nation building start in earnest.”

“I like to especially commend INEC, I think that inspite of the challenges, I think they have delivered an election that has been credible by many standards and as one expected, the benefit for this country, the next stage of political stability that such a successful election brings forth is already beginning to manifest. Political stability clearly will set us on to the path of economic stability and development. I think they deserve our commendation, I join many Nigerians that have already commended and congratulated them”.

He stressed that the acceptance of results by contestants who lost at the polls was an indication that Nigeria was finally getting it right in terms of conducting elections.

“The general acceptability of the elections would signal so many other things; fewer electoral petitions, we are already seeing those who have lost elections, in the most unusual manner and tradition in our elections beginning to congratulate those who won and accept defeat and this is a measure of the transparency of the process that you have put in place and that we have all worked together to deliver and one hopes that this spirit of sportsmanship would continue and become embedded in our national life”.

Fashola therefore, urged the INEC to commence the process of admitting those who turned 18 after the voters’ registration as well as delisting those deceased ahead of subsequent elections to come.

The governor also congratulated all other political parties and contestants saying, “they made the contest worth the while, they challenged us to bring out our best and without them really, it would not have been such an electoral competition, robust debates, and robust exchange of ideas about the development of our state”.

Responding, the INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner, Dr. Adekunle Ogunmola said the certificate of return issued to the governor showed that he actually won the last governorship election in the state.

He, however, scored INEC high for conducting smooth polls devoid of violence and acrimony in Lagos saying that the commission would also commence a process to update the voter register frequently.

“We thank God for the elections and from the comments of people, we have done creditably well. We scored ourselves very high,” he said.

Ogunmola also presented certificates of return to the three Senators-elect, 24 House of Representatives elect as well as the 40 House of Assembly members-elect who won their various elections under the platform of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN).