ABUJA- AHEAD of tomorrow’s Governorship and State Houses of Assembly elections, Chairman, Nigeria Governors’ Forum, NGF and governor of Rivers Statement Rotimi Amaechi yesterday called on the Professor Attahiru Jega led Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC and all security agencies to improve on the March 28 presidential and national Assembly elections by giving Nigerians the best.
The statement read, “As Nigerians return to the poll on Saturday, April 11, 2015 to elect governors and state lawmakers, we call on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to continue improving on its performance as was done during the March 28 Presidential and National Assembly elections.
” Although there were complaints here and there, local and international observers rated the last elections as largely free and fair. This is huge progress for our country and its electoral system.
“We expect that the Governorship and State Assembly elections will be even better, with INEC correcting the lapses observed in the March 28 elections.
“The logistics of distributing sensitive election materials should be perfected. Steps should be taken to ensure card readers work smoothly while ballot snatching and other forms of electoral fraud should be blocked.
“INEC should ensure that anyone caught sabotaging or violating the electoral process, no matter how highly placed, are investigated and prosecuted.
“We urge the security agencies being deployed for the election to carry out their duties professionally and in line with the Constitution. They should not allow themselves to be used by politicians to intimidate voters or perpetrate electoral fraud.
“We expect that heads of security agencies will investigate complaints across the country, that during the presidential and national assembly elections, some personnel colluded with unscrupulous politicians to engage in malpractices. Heads of security agencies should re-orientate their personnel to shun partisanship and discharge their responsibilities on Election Day in line with global best practices.
” We also like to admonish politicians from all political parties to abide by the rules and refrain from any action capable of undermining the electoral process or plunging our country into crisis. We urge eventual winners of the elections to be magnanimous in victory while losers should take a cue from our President, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, and exhibit the spirit of sportsmanship. Nigeria is bigger than any one of its citizens.
” Finally, we call on the electorate to come out en masse on April 11 to vote for candidates of their choice. States being closer to the people in terms of governance, this is definitely a very important election.
” The decisions we make on Election Day will affect how much progress and development our states experience in the next four years and beyond. We urge all voters to be law-abiding, cast their votes and ensure their votes count. We wish everyone well on Election Day and after.
0 comments:
Post a Comment