2011 Polls: PDP Calls For Inclusive Voter Education

The Democratic Peoples Party (DPP) has called for “encompassing voter education” to sensitise Nigerians about the 2011 general elections.

Alhaji Abdullahi Mohammed, the National Secretary, who made the call in Abuja our correspondent reports that noted that the experience most voters had in previous polls

regarding electoral fraud and other manipulations had discouraged them from coming out to vote.

Mohammed, however, called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), parties and aspirants to put in measures aimed at educating the electorate on the forthcoming elections.

“Education of voters should be a triangular effort, involving the electoral body on one hand, political parties on the other hand and then the aspirants.

“I believe that if we have all these three involved in sensitisation campaigns, virtually voters will react positively in coming out to vote en masse,” he said.

Mohammed noted that the new Chairman of INEC, Prof. Attahiru Jega, was a credible person and, therefore, would not compromise his reputation on the issue of poll malpractice.

He urged Jega to build on the trust reposed in him by the electorate.

The party scribe called on the electorate to adequately protect their votes, pointing out the experience in Bauchi State in the 2007 general elections should be emulated.

Mohammed said the governorship election was adequately protected at the polls, noting that the electorate resisted any manipulation and called on the people to use constitutional means to protect their votes.

“People have to learn from what happened in Bauchi in the 2007 general elections where the electorate protected their votes, ensuring that the results were not manipulated.

“The people employed all necessary measures to protect their votes and at the end their votes counted.

“We have to adopt what happened in Bauchi, and that should be a vital lesson to every voter, everywhere in the country.”

The party scribe noted that the proposition to deregister parties that failed to win a seat in the legislature as prescribed by the House of Representatives was a negation of the people’s right to assembly.

He advised that parties should not be wiped off by legislation, stressing that parties which were unable to stand the test of time would naturally fold up.