Ekiti Guber: Society Trains Mobilisers For Election Participation

A civil society group, Yvote Naija, says it has trained relevant stakeholders on mobilisation and advocacy for active participation of voters in the June 18 governorship election.
The State Coordinator and Project Lead of the group, Mr Funsho Benjamin and Habeeb Adewale respectively, said this at a workshop in collaboration with Global Youth Mobilisation in Ado-Ekiti, on Monday.
Benjamin said that the programme was part of the group’s ongoing nationwide advocacy on voter education and awareness.
The group decried the high rate of voter apathy during the 2018 governorship election in the state and urged eligible voters to come out en masse and exercise their franchise in the upcoming election.
He said voters’ participation in the electoral process was critical to nation building and urged participants to educate people in their respective communities to shun vote buying and vote selling.
According to him, such an unwholesome practice would be out of business if there is nobody interested in buying and selling.
Earlier, the convener of the group, Olasupo Abideen, who bemoaned low voter participation in the current electoral processes, said that his organisation was working assiduously to change the narrative.
“We are doing this by encouraging more people to register and collect their Permanent Voter Cards.
“As citizens, we must understand that we can’t achieve a better Nigeria, if we refuse to participate in electoral process”, he said.
In a lecture, Mr Ayomide Agbaje educated the participants on how they can use the news media to reduce voter apathy.
He called on INEC to work towards reducing the incidence of machine malfunctioning during elections.
The Executive Director of Balm in Gilead Foundation for Sustainable Development, Mr Nelson Akerele, spoke on various issues, including voter education, vote buying, challenges faced by people living with disabilities during election and the general attitude of Nigerians to governance.
Akerele tutored the trainees on the rudiments of advocacy, community mapping, power mapping, mobilisation and stakeholders organisation.
He, therefore, called on Nigerian youth to always speak with one voice and demand accountability from their leaders.

In a goodwill message, the INEC Desk Officer in Ekiti, Mrs Funke Ojo, lauded Yvote Naija for the initiative and reaffirmed the commitment of the electoral body to ensure the success of the governorship election in the state.