The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has unveiled measures to ensure free, fair and acceptable governorship polls in Ekiti and Osun states.
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INEC National Commissioner in charge of Information, Voter Education and Publicity Festus Okoye listed some of the steps as top-level security meetings with relevant agencies and deployment of modern voting tools.
The commissioner has scheduled the elections in the Southwest states for June 18 and July 16 in Ekiti and in Osun respectively.
In a chat yesterday with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos, Mr. Okoye said INEC plans to use the two off-season polls as litmus test for the 2023 general elections.
The INEC spokesman said elections must be taken as multi-stakeholders’ venture to ensure their sanctity.
He said the commission is not taking anything for granted in its preparations for hitch-free polls.
According to him, the commission remained confident of the optimal performance of the accreditation machine – the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS).
He said: ”We are holding meetings and putting together strategies and tactics of making sure INEC conducts free, fair and transparent elections in both states.
“We are confident that whatever issues there are with the BVAS have been resolved and we are expecting to have a very good accreditation process at the elections.
“Those two elections may likely be the only off season governorship election that we are going to conduct before the 2023 general elections. We are preparing and preparing well and we are preparing very hard.”
Okoye noted that the new Electoral Act 2022 would guide and strengthen the commission to conduct a very good election.
Alluding to what he called creative and innovative approaches adopted by INEC in the conduct of elections, the agency’s spokesman said so many people in Ekiti and Osun who believe that their votes will count and that the votes will be made to count.
He said: “With the introduction of BVAS, people believe that ghosts will not come to vote. People believe that those who have quarantined Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) will not in be a position to use them. So, only the living will cast their votes in Osun and Ekiti.
“We are putting everything in place to make sure that we conduct a good election in both states. We are preparing for these two elections and we are preparing well.”
On riverine areas in Osun, Okoye said the commission was in discussion with the marine union and Nigerian Navy for logistics and security.
According to him, the commission has also started the process of recruitment of ad hoc staff that will be used for the two elections.
On efforts to prevent recurrent trend of voter apathy during elections in the states, Okoye urged parties to join the commission in voter mobilisation.
Okoye said: “The conduct of elections and management of elections and ensuring that elections are free, fair, transparent and inclusive remain a multi stakeholder venture.
“No individual, no agency and no commission can do it alone. The main task of voter mobilisation still remains with political parties.
“So, the political parties must mobilise these voters to the polling units because the voters are to vote for them. Parties must do their own bit in terms of voter mobilisation.
“Civil society groups and organisations also have a role and a responsibility in this area. The same is with the media and other critic stakeholders,” he said.
He said political parties have the responsibility of going to rural areas and communities to educate the people about their symbols that will be on the ballot.
According to him, on the part of the commission, efforts are being made to ensure aggressive sensitisation and mobilisation of voters.
“We have created additional polling units and taking these polling units closer to the people to ensure seamless voting experience on Election Day.
“We have also made it possible for people to have trust and confidence in the electoral process through the introduction of the BVAS. Now people believe that they can go and vote and that their votes will count.”
He spoke of plans by the commission to hold meetings with security agencies under the auspices of Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES) to also build up confidence in people to come out and vote without fear of violence.
He added: “So, we want a situation where people will go to the polling units with full confidence that nothing bad will happen to them.
“People must have hope that the electoral management body will do what is right in terms of making sure that the only determinant of who gets elected and who does not get elected, will revolve around the votes of the people cast at the polling units.”
“On our own part, we are going to accelerate in a very aggressive manner, civic and voter education in Ekiti and Osun to make sure that people come out to vote.
“The issue of voter apathy must be tackled headlong and must be a multi-stakeholders aggressive venture. Nigerians must be made to understand that they hold the power through their votes and must shun selling their votes on Election Day.”
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