October 18, (THEWILL) – Politicians and the electorates have been advised to say no to vote buying and selling and all forms of inducement and money laundering associated with politics and elections during the forthcoming November 11 governorship election in Bayelsa State.
Addressing participants at a Stakeholder’s Roundtable on the governorship election in Bayelsa State, the Executive Director of Centre For Transparency Advocacy (CTA), Madam Faith Nwadishi, who was represented by MacDonald Ekemezie, said citizens’ choices must never be subverted by the negative use of money to influence votes, including the criminal purchase of PVCs by politicians.
According to her, it’s because of the vote of the electorates that makes politicians scramble for it, saying there should be no buying and selling of votes as this will hamper development in the State.
“We recognise clearly that the symbolic presence of law enforcement agents at polling units on the election has not deterred vote buying. It is, therefore, important that a more result-oriented method like covert operations be adopted to curb this menace. An early warning flagging by the Central Bank and Commercial institutions will as well alert anti-graft agencies to track illicit money intended to usurp the wills of the people through the rigging of elections induced by money,” she said.
She described security as a critical aspect of the electoral process that requires attention during the entire electoral process, saying INEC has recently raised an alarm and fears indicating that insecurity may pose a great challenge to the governorship election.
“Citizens too have had cause to worry over the issue of insecurity in the State and if this is unchecked may discourage citizens from coming out to exercise their franchise on election day.
“We expect better synergy between the police, the lead security agency on election security, and other members of the Inter-agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES) with stakeholders on the election. At least this will go a long way to instil confidence in the people prior, during and after the election,” she said.
She said one of the greatest challenges faced by INEC on election days is the movement of personnel and materials, saying this has hampered operations, leading to delays in the commencement of elections.
“Therefore, we appeal to the unions to keep an eye on their members to ensure that when they take personnel and materials to designated locations, they also bring them back at the end of the elections. We implored the maritime union to ensure that personnel and materials are moved to the riverine areas without encumbrances,” she added.
On his part, the Resident Electoral Commissioner in Bayelsa State, Obo Effanga, said INEC is committed and prepared for a credible and successful governorship election in the State.
“INEC is prepared for this election. We will do all we can to ensure that the election is successful. The only way anybody can win this election is to get voters to vote for them, therefore, the political parties and candidates should be campaigning now. We promised to do our best to ensure that this election is credible,” he said.
According to him, INEC will deploy the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) in all the polling units, disclosing that out of the 1,056 862 total registered voters in the State, 566,755 are male while 490,767 are female.
Also speaking, the Chairman of Maritime Union in Bayelsa State, Comrade Ogoniba Ipigansi, said they are fully ready and that the union has prepared and service ready 1005 boats for the exercise.
Other participants that pledge their readiness and commitment include the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS), Nigerian Correctional Service (NCS), National Orientation Agency (NOA) and Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps (NSCDC).
About the Author
