LAST-minute preparations for the Ekiti State re-run governorship election were intensified yesterday by political parties and contestants in the race.

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) hinted that President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua and the leadership of the party will be in the state tomorrow to round off the campaign for the PDP governorship candidate, Mr. Segun Oni.

The Action Congress (AC) also announced that its National Chairman, Chief Bisi Akande, Governors Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State, Adams Oshiomhole (Edo State) and Olusegun Mimiko of Ondo State, would today join the party's candidate, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, at a rally to woo the electorate for him.

They will be joined by former governors Bola Ahmed Tinubu (Lagos), Olusegun Osoba (Ogun) and Lam Adesina (Oyo) to strengthen the campaign in six of the 10 local councils where there will be re-run.

At a press conference yesterday, Chairman of the sub-committee of the PDP Campaign National Committee, Chief Ebenezer Babatope, listed party's other leaders expected in Ekiti for the event as Vice President Goodluck Jonathan, Senate President David Mark, Speaker of the House of Representatives Dimeji Bankole, the party's National Chairman, Vincent Ogbulafor, and PDP governors.

The second coming of the President to the state to campaign for Oni, according to Babatope, was due to the importance attached to the state.

Former governor of the state and AC leader, Chief Niyi Adebayo, told reporters yesterday that the coming of the national leaders of the AC was to re-assure the people of hope for a better future if the party wins the election.

He said the people of the state would not be intimidated by the presence of Yar'Adua and other leaders of the PDP, arguing that the second coming of the President would only send a wrong signal that the PDP and its candidate were unpopular in the state.

Also, the Ekiti Political Action Committee (PAC) in the United States of America (USA) has said tomorrow's return of the President to Ekiti portrayed a failure on the part of the PDP to deliver the dividends of democracy to the people of the state during its 21-month tenure.

Chairman of PAC, Mr. Segun Ajibulu, said the state has not benefited anything from the PDP-controlled Federal Government, adding that when the President comes, he should tell the people what he has done for them.

The heat of the elections spread to the Federal Capital, Abuja, as Oni led lobbyists to persuade top politicians in Abuja to back him in the elections.

But the AC said it is unmoved by the activities of Oni in Abuja, insisting that it is fully on ground in Ekiti working to ensure victory for Fayemi.

The party's spokesman, Lai Mohammed, implored the Federal Government to provide a level-playing field for all contestants to prevent an outbreak of violence in the state.

Oni was spotted in the National Assembly where he was escorted by Senator Ayo Arise to meet with Mark behind closed doors.

But there were speculations yesterday that Jonathan would represent his boss at the rally, following alleged signals that the President might not make the trip.

"It is not clear that the President will be available but I can assure you that the Vice President will be there, and may lead the PDP chieftains from Abuja who will be there next Thursday (tomorrow)," a source said.

Mohammed said on phone yesterday: "We are having our rally tomorrow (today). We are concentrating on the campaign and we are fully on ground. Our appeal to the Federal Government is to create a level-playing ground so that the most popular man can win the elections. If there is level-playing ground, there will be no cause for violence."

The police yesterday read the riot acts threatening to deal decisively with those planning to foment trouble during the polls.

Addressing a press conference at the Force Headquarters in Abuja, the Force Public Relations Officer (FPRO), Mr. Emmanuel Ojukwu, said the police had been following developments since the partial annulment of the governorship election by the Court of Appeal in Ilorin, Kwara State. He said the reports gave the impression that lives and property are no longer safe in the state.

"Political activities in the state have been on the upward trend, much so that tension has been generated. There have been reports of alleged threat to lives and actual incidents of arson, murder, and other acts of violence, which have tended to create a state of fear and insecurity in the minds of residents of Ekiti State. Nigerians at large, as well as local and international press and observers, may have formed the impression that lives and property are not safe in Ekiti State. That is not so," he said.

Ojukwu said the Police High Command had been gathering intelligence reports on the state and at a stage, had to summon the major stakeholders in the state to Abuja over the political situation. According to the FPRO, an undertaking was extracted from them to play the game by the rules. He reiterated the resolve of the police to enforce the agreement reached by the parties.

On the call for deployment of soldiers in the state, Ojukwu said the police could handle the situation but added that the decision of the President would be the final on the matter.

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and AC presidential candidate in the 2007 elections, has appealed to the people of Ekiti to vote massively for Fayemi.

Atiku said Ekiti would be in a better position to gain dividends of democracy when an accountable, transparent and committed person like Fayemi is voted in as power.

"Dr. Kayode Fayemi's commitment to good governance, accountability and transparency as well as his laudable programmes on education, agriculture, and infrastructural development in the state make him the right man for Ekiti State at this critical moment in history," Atiku said in a statement released by his media office in Abuja yesterday.

Also, former Chief of Army Staff, Gen. Alani Akinrinade, has warned against the misuse of soldiers in electoral process even as he urged President Yar'Adua to be categorical on whether or not he wants a free and fair election in Ekiti on Saturday.

Akinrinade, who spoke to journalists in his Lagos home yesterday, would rather soldiers stay off the Ekiti re-run, arguing that it is the responsibility of the police to maintain peace in the country.

"He is the President of the country, not a party. I am sure he wants Nigeria to be respected everywhere in the world. The Ekiti re-run is a litmus test for the President. If he says he wants a clean election and tells the electoral body and the parties involved so, they would toe the line.

"The so-called re-branding of Nigeria should start with Ekiti. What are you re-branding if in one small way you cannot make a big difference. I hope that the President would show leadership by coming out clear to say he wants clean election in Ekiti," he said.

Akinrinade noted that the image of the Nigerian Army has been so battered in the past and believes in its leadership, which he reckons would not want to be used to rig elections or intimidate the voters.

"I know that we have a very good Army that can hold its own anywhere in the world, like it has done in peacekeeping operations abroad. There is no reason we should not be able to help our own people. The average Army officer today is a graduate and I don't think they would just line up to be used by politicians for the purpose of rigging elections.

The Chairman of AC in Akwa Ibom State, Mr. David Ekanem, has advised the PDP not to draw the military into the conduct of the polls.

He also advised the contestants not to see the election as a-do-or-die affair.

Ekanem told The Guardian in Uyo yesterday that it was a violation of democratic tenets for anyone in today's Nigeria to toy with the idea of deploying the military to monitor the elections in some wards in the state.

Soldiers, he said, should be allowed to perform their civic responsibility of defending the territorial boundary of the country against external invasion.