The Independent National Electoral Commission has been urged to ensure credible conduct of the November 11 governorship polls in Bayelsa, Imo and Kogi.

The charge was given at a stakeholders’ meeting convened by the Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room in Abuja on the coming elections.

Speaking at the event, the chair of the Senate Committee on Electoral Matters, Sharafadeen Alli, urged security agencies to review their operational mechanisms to ensure their personnel’s neutrality during the poll.

He said, “It is only commitment from both security officials and the citizens that can guarantee an improvement in the electoral system. The National Assembly has commenced its oversight with the engagement of INEC in connection with the preparedness towards the off-cycle elections in the respective states.”

Mr Alli advised eligible voters not to allow themselves to be used by desperate politicians for electoral manipulations, adding that such manipulations could disrupt the entire electoral process.

The senator said citizens’ voices had become louder regarding electoral matters, saying that the conduct of people was important.

“For the electorate, they should be willing to perform their civic responsibility without submitting themselves to manipulations that can disrupt the electoral process. With these commitments, we are bound to improve the system,” Mr Alli explained. “It is the responsibility of the National Assembly to improve upon the electoral legal framework and it is the responsibility of INEC to improve on its operational mechanism and electoral administration processes for future elections.” 

The legislator added, “It is true that the judiciary has continued to play a major role in our electoral process, especially by drawing enclosure to the process. This has to change if we all play our role as citizens.”

Mr Alli called on the stakeholders to take advantage of the meeting bordering on salient issues and recommendations to solve the challenges that could undermine the off-cycle election. He called on politicians as actors to conduct themselves with integrity, humility and decency before, during and after the polls.

Also, the convener of the group, Yunusa Ya’u, said credibility was important in the conduct of the off-cycle election because it would help in shaping the trajectory of electoral democracy in Nigeria.

Mr Ya’u expressed worry over the decreasing voter turnout and the need to rebuild confidence among Nigerians in the electoral process. He said that ensuring free, fair, and credible elections was vital to ensuring the satisfaction of the Nigerians with election outcomes.

On his part, Bayelsa INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner Obo Effanga said that the police promised to deploy 27,000 personnel to beef up security.

Mr Effanga said so far, Bayelsa residents had collected 1,017,613 Permanent Voter Cards out of the 1,056,862 printed for the newly registered voters across 105 wards.

He added that the commission had trained 223 supervisory presiding officers for the election, noting that they were all INEC staff members to check unprofessional acts.

(NAN)