NOA Director Calls For Voters Education

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) should use the period of the postponement of the national elections to educate voters more on the electoral process, an official said.

Mr Vitus Ekeocha, the Director of National Orientation Agency in Imo, gave the advice in an interview with the newsmen in Owerri on Tuesday.

Ekeocha said the people must be properly enlightened on the requirements of the modified open ballot system (MOBS) and other developments surrounding the polls to eliminate rumours and misinformation that could generate crisis.

He blamed Saturday’s violent attack on the Chairman of Aboh Mbaise Local Government, Chief Charles Onwunali, on communication gap between the commission and the people.

“If the people were properly informed by the commission,  the result sheet was not part of the electoral materials that were sent to the local governments for distribution, they would not have resorted to violence.

“Rather, some people thought that some highly placed politicians in the area had hijacked the result sheets and this is because of the communication gap,” he said.

Ekeocha said it was possible to hold a violence-free election in the state and commended INEC Chairman Attahiru Jega for postponing the polls.

He described the result sheet as an essential document for the modified open ballot system, saying: “the result sheet is an essential ingredient where the number of accredited voters for the election and the results are entered.”

He said the modified system differed from the secret ballot system, where the result sheet could only be needed at the end of the balloting.

The director said Nigerians would have doubted the credibility of the polls if INEC had gone ahead with the polls without the result sheets, considering that previous experiences had given rise to public skepticism and distrust among politicians.

“If you write the number of accredited voters somewhere other than the result sheet as required and provided for, that number is likely to either multiply or diminish later,” he said.

Ekeocha said before the nationwide broadcast by Jega, some people had begun to suggest that the document had been hijacked by a political party desperate to manipulate the results.

He advocated early distribution of electoral materials to polling centres so that the elections would start on schedule to check agitations among politicians and their supporters.

“If the materials are ready at the polling units and the exercise begins at 8 am as scheduled, politicians and their supporters will not have any reason to be agitated or begin to move from one polling unit to another,” he said.

He also advised the electorate to sustain the enthusiasm shown on Saturday by going out in large numbers to vote for candidates of their choice.

He urged the electorate “to be vigilant to protect their votes,” in order to ensure that their votes counted in the polls.