From Rhoda Godwin, Yenagoa
The Independent Electoral Commission, INEC yesterday called on religious leaders to properly educate and inform their followers on the electoral process to ensure a smooth November 11 off circle gubernatorial elections in Bayelsa
The Resident Electoral Officer, REC in Bayelsa State, Mr Obo Effanga made the call, during an interactive session with Leaders of various religious and Faith based groups in preparation for the 2023 governorship election held at the Prof Mahmood Yakubu Media Centre in Yenagoa.
Effanga said that, the essence of the forum was to inform and engage religious leaders who are stakeholders in the election in order for them to pass on the right information and also caution their followers to conduct themselves properly before, during and after the election.
He said, ” We have 39 days to the election so we need to engage all stakeholders, because they would be voting, they would be campaigning for candidates in the election, their members would be involved and they could be serving in other capacities in the election.
” The election is going to be won or lost at the polling units, anyone who wants to win must campaign for voters to come out and vote for them”
While responding to various questions, Mr Effanga emphasized that elections are still manually conducted and collated in the country pointing out that the IREV is a viewing portal for the transmission of the electoral process in the polling units and not a collation centre.
He however, assured Bayelsans that INEC is prepared for the election, as polling units would be opened early on election day, encouraging all persons yet to collect their permanent voters cards,PVC’S to do so before 10th of October which is the expiration date.
On his part, Head of Department, Voter Education and Publicity, Mr Wilfred Ifogha in his welcome address said the interactive session was part of the mandate of the commission to engage stakeholders and sensitize them the activities of INEC particularly as regards to the forth coming election.
Mr Ifogha expressed appreciation to all the leaders of the faith based groups who attended the meeting.
Leader of the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN in Bayelsa State, Reverend Father Joseph Opelema appealed to INEC to be more proactive in carrying out their duties and prevent all forms of manipulations by political actors in the state in order to ensure credibility and fairness of the electoral process.
Opelemo said, “Nigerians are going through difficulty. Nigerians are suffering. We still believe that electoral process is key to credible election. INEC should be more proactive in carrying out their duties and prevent all forms of manipulations by political actors in the state.”
