CSO: Why Votes Must Count in Bayelsa, Kogi, Imo Guber Elections

Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja

A coalition of civil society organisations registered by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) have said the idea of introducing technology into the electoral process was to check thuggery and ballot box snatching.
The CSOs said they had observed that INEC did not display or publish for public scrutiny the voters register in the Local Government Areas, political wards and registration area across the three states of Bayelsa, Kogi and Imo, in in line the provisions of Section 19 (1) of the Electoral Act (2022).
The election observation groups included Intercontinental Leadership Initiative, Christian Empowerment and Development Initiative, Centre for Strategy Ethics and Value, Centre for Social Value and Early Child Development, Initiative for Civic Obligation and Sustainable Peace and Grassroot Initiative for Promotion of Peace, Love, Unity and Ethics.

Others were – Water Light Initiative, Citizens Right for Peace and Non-violence Initiative, Centre for Strategic and Conflict Resolution and Centre for Positive Change and Civil Responsibility.
Addressing a press conference in Abuja, Coordinator of the coalition, Mr. Stafford Bisong, said the only way to make  election credible was by ensuring that the vote of the people count.

Bisong, who spoke on behalf other members of the coalition said the introduction of Bimodal Voter Accreditation (BVAS) helped to discourage politicians and their agents from engaging in do or die politics by perpetrating violence during elections.
“It is against this background that we “Saving Our Votes” a coalition of INEC registered civil society Organisations have taken time to scrutinise the voters register in the aforementioned states to see, observe and discover for ourselves the   state of affairs and level of preparation of INEC to deliver credible elections in those three states in November, 2023.”

He said the CSOs have observed that INEC did not display or publish for public scrutiny the voters register in the Local Government Areas, political wards and registration area across the three states of Bayelsa, Kogi and Imo in in line the provisions of Section 19 (1) of the Electoral Act (2022).
The coalition listed their major concerns ahead of the November 2023 election in Bayelsa, Kogi and Imo to include the integrity or otherwise of the voter’s register to be used for the election, conduct of security agencies and logistics arrangement put in place by INEC to overcome the challenges of peculiar riverine terrine in these states.

They further said INEC should find solutions to challenges that affect the seamless process for efficient deployment of the BVAS machines.
In addition, the CSOs canvassed for judicial reforms and a review of the powers of the Election Petition Tribunal and courts pre and post elections.
According to Bisong, sanitising the judiciary would largely reduce the number of upturned and re-run elections emanating from the influence of politicians.
“We want use this opportunity to commend INEC on the notable gains in our electioneering process while asking for more deliberate improvements.
“We use this opportunity to challenge the government of the President Bola Tinubu to demonstrate his commitment to leaving behind a legacy of credible election in Nigeria in line with the 2022 Electoral Act which is meant to bring sanity to our electioneering process,” he said