…To Introduce Call Centres For Elections

The Enugu State Independent Electoral Commission (ENSIEC) said on Tuesday that it would introduce call centres during the November 2 council polls in the state.

The ENSIEC Chairman, Dr Boniface Eneh, who spoke at the release of the 2013 election timetables in Enugu, said the centres would help to ensure free, fair, credible and violence-free elections.

Eneh said the centres would be equipped with communication gadgets to receive complaints from electorate with a view to tackling them.

“We are trying to liaise with an international organisation to help us in organising call centres, where we will be attending to the challenges of the electorate as they come. “It is going to be a replica of what INEC is doing,’’ he said.

He said the commission, with the approval of INEC, would introduce more polling units in the state to bring them closer to the electorate.

Eneh said the commission had visited the 2,959 polling centres in the state to ensure that they were actually polling centres.

“We will make sure that election materials are not delivered to anybody’s house, which has been disguised a disguise of polling centre,’’ he said.

The chairman said that candidates for the chairmanship and councillorship posts would pay a non-refundable fee of N200, 000 and N50, 000, respectively.

He said that the processes for the elections would last from Sept. 20 to Oct. 29.

Secretary,?Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Enugu state chapter, commended the commission for the early release of the timetable and Mr Steve Oruruo,?assured of the party’s commitment to present reliable candidates, who would deliver dividends of democracy if elected.

“We will make choices that will be of interest to our people. We want to continue enjoying peace in this state. “We will sensitise our people appropriately to work according to the guidelines,’’ Oruruo assured.

Mr Thompson Orji, who represented APGA, Enugu State, said ENSIEC should ensure that enough policemen were on duty at the polling centres.

“We want a free and fair election. If we see that the elections are free, fair and credible, there will be no point writing petitions or going to court. “We hope that security agencies will work effectively to ensure that opposition parties are not stampeded,’’ Orji said.