Politics
2023 : Choose Credible Candidates, Group Urges Electorate
A non-governmental organisation, Willz Trust Foundation, has urged the Nigerian electorate to choose credible candidates in next year’s general elections in the country.
The Executive Director of the Foundation, Ide Aaron Anyanwu, who gave the charge at a press briefing in Port Harcourt, particularly urged the Rivers electorate to ensure that only credible candidates that will fulfill their campaign promises are voted into office.
According to him, the aim of his organisation is to entrench civil and democratic values in Nigeria by encouraging increased participation of citizens in the electoral process across the geopolitical regions through advocacy, public sensitisation and enlightenment programmes.
“We are making progress in our commitment especially in voter education, sensitisation and mobilisation, capacity building, voters conferences, media advocacy and election observation exercises”, he said, adding that his group had worked in the South- South and South- East since 2019 with focus on increasing the scope of operations in the future.
“Whillztrust foundation has, independently and through strategic partnership with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) initiated programmes that promote voter education, provide critical voter informations to local communities in our bid to encourage citizens participation at all levels,” he added.
While recalling that the foundation played active role during the just concluded Continuous Voter registration (CVR) exercise and was able to assist over 20,000 new registrants to acquire their new Permanent Voter’s Cards (PVCs), the organisation, in partnership with INEC, would soon commence door to door voter education exercise for which its representatives have been formally trained by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in conjunction with INEC.
“A critical look at Nigeria shows indicators that all is not well at the moment. Unfortunately, we are compounded by continued decadence, corruption and lack of transparency in government and public sectors, at every election cycle incoming government will make promises to rectify the difficulties we face as a nation. However, they have always failed.
“This experience has created huge vacuum of hopelessness and loss of confidence in business of government and governance. Our experience in the field as voter education providers shows that greater percentage of Nigerians are hardly interested in voting and Election”, he lamented.
Anyanwu charged citizens never to be discouraged, but be rather determined to hold those in positions of power accountable, adding that their power to change the negative narrative is through voting in credible leaders.
“How can we hold our government accountable for promises they made on their campaign if we do not participate in elections ? Participation in election is the constitutional right and civic responsibility of every Nigerian, provided you have met the electoral requirements.
“It was because of these challenges that the existence of Whillztrust foundation became a necessity to help redefine advocacy in social sector and encourage public interest. We focus on grassroots to reach the hard to reach in society”, he said.
He disclosed that a South- South voters’ conference is slated to hold in Port Harcourt from 1st to 3rd December, 2022, adding that the event is aimed at achieving improved voter population growth, providing voter information and education that will equip the Nigerian voters to the extent that they are able to make informed decisions and quality choices of who their preferred parties and candidates are.
Earlier, a former Commissioner for Information in Rivers State, Prof. Bene Abbey, in her opening remarks stated that voters’ education was key to having a developed country.
Abbey noted that the rapid growth of Singapore was as a result of education, remarking that there is a great difference between the literates and the illiterates as well as developed and developing countries.
She reiterated the commitment and the work the foundation was doing to ensure peaceful elections, while enjoining INEC, security agencies, the press as well as other relevant stakeholders to play by the rule to ensure credible, free, fair elections come 2023.
By: Susan Serekara-Nwikhana
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has insisted on the conclusion of the Continuous Voter Registration exercise yesterday (Sunday) despite calls by some opposition political parties and civil society organisations for an extension over concerns that millions of citizens could be excluded from the 2027 general elections.
In a notice issued on its X (formerly Twitter) handle on Saturday, the commission reminded the public that the exercise would end on Sunday, July 26, with designated registration centres open from 9am to 3pm.
“Your future won’t wait. Neither should you. The Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise ends Sunday, 26 July 2026,” the Commission stated.
INEC also reminded prospective voters that they could complete the registration process online through its dedicated CVR portal or visit designated INEC offices and registration centres nationwide for physical assistance.
The new Electoral Act stipulates that INEC is required to stop voter registration, updating and revision of the voters’ register 90 days before an election to allow for data clean-up, the printing of Permanent Voter Cards and other logistical preparations.
The law also requires the Commission to display the voters’ register for claims and objections within the stipulated period to enable eligible Nigerians to challenge omissions and errors and help ensure the credibility of the final register for the polls.
The INEC National Commissioner on Information and Voter Education, Mr Mohammed Haruna, told The Tide source that the Commission would not extend the deadline, stressing that the registration exercise had to close to allow the electoral body to begin cleaning the data already collected.
“By midnight on Sunday, voter registration ends. There won’t be any extension. There are so many things that we need to do at the back end. We have to draw a line; otherwise, we won’t be able to produce a clean copy of what has been posted,” he said.
Mr Haruna explained that the commission’s Information Technology team and the Voter Registration Department would begin processing the data immediately after the closure of the registration window.
He said INEC would deploy its Automated Biometric Identification System to detect and remove multiple registrations before the provisional voters’ register is displayed for public scrutiny.
“We have this automatic biometric system that will check whether somebody has registered more than once. They will publish the register for claims and objections. That is, if anybody thinks a name shouldn’t be on the register, or if he has some claims, for instance, that his name has been omitted or some of his details are incorrect,” he said.
According to him, the final number of newly registered voters would only be known after the biometric verification and the claims and objections process.
“So, it’s after all that has been done that we will have a final figure, which we will now add to the existing 93 million or so. That will then become the voters’ register. We are mandated to give every political party a copy ahead of the election,” Mr Haruna added.
Responding to concerns over the number of Nigerians who may be excluded from the 2027 electoral process by the closure, the national commissioner said INEC could only account for eligible citizens who presented themselves for registration.
He added that the commission had recorded registrations through its online platform, physical registration centres and INEC offices across the 774 local government areas.
According to a public announcement signed by Mr Ariyo Rufus, Head of Department, Voter Education, Publicity, Gender and Inclusivity on behalf of Mr Oluwatoyin Babalola, the INEC Osun State Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), the said exercise is aimed at assessing its operational readiness and testing the efficiency of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) ahead of the governorship poll.
INEC stated that the exercise would simulate Election Day accreditation procedures but clarified that no voting would take place during the exercise.
The commission explained that “the mock accreditation would be conducted in selected polling units spread across the three senatorial districts of Osun State, covering Osun Central, Osun East and Osun West.
“In Osun Central Senatorial District, the selected local government areas are Osogbo, Olorunda, Ifelodun and Boripe, with designated polling units identified for the exercise.
“For Osun East Senatorial District, the exercise will take place in selected polling units across Ilesa West, Ilesa East, Oriade and Obokun local government areas.”
INEC also listed Egbedore, Ede North, Ede South and Ejigbo local government areas as the selected councils for the mock accreditation exercise in Osun West Senatorial District.
The commission urged all registered voters whose polling units were selected to participate in the exercise, stressing that only holders of valid Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) would be accredited.
“This exercise is designed to test the functionality and efficiency of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) under conditions similar to Election Day. There shall be no voting during the exercise,” the Commission stated.
INEC reaffirmed its appreciation to residents of Osun State for their continued cooperation and support throughout the electoral process.
INEC also assured political parties, the media, civil society organisations and other stakeholders of the Commission’s commitment to conducting a free, fair, credible, transparent and inclusive governorship election in Osun State.
Mr Dare made the remark while criticizing Alhaji Abubakar for hiring a United States of America lobbyist with $1.2 million, in preparation for the 2027 elections.
In a statement he personally signed, Mr Dare said the former vice president can’t take Nigeria down the path of self-destruction.
The statement read in part: “Worse still, for a man who presumes to offer leadership to Africa’s most populous nation, his recent resort to grievance offshoring, outsourcing political warfare to Washington and reportedly paying $1.2 million to an American lobbying firm to peddle petitions against a sitting Nigerian President, stands as an affront to Nigeria’s sovereignty and a vote of no confidence in its democratic institutions.
“It is also a stinging slight, an implicit condescension directed at generations of Nigerian journalists, policy analysts, academics, and public intellectuals who have spent decades analysing, critiquing, and carrying the burden of the nation’s democratic evolution.
“The Atiku Abubakar of today cuts a pitiable figure, a grotesque portrait of what a politician becomes when ambition overwhelms judgment and every political faculty becomes programmed for self-destruction.
“No, Atiku cannot take Nigeria down that path with him. He must travel it alone. But first, Nigerians deserve Atiku Abubakar’s report card. Charity, they say, begins at home, not in Washington.
“Nigerians deserve to know whether the Atiku Abubakar who has long presented himself as a democrat is, in reality, a politician of many colours. He has erected for himself a throne built simultaneously on sand and bayonets. It is time to explode the bayonets.”
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