As the 2023 General Elections gather momentum,stakeholders and Civil Society Organizations has tasked the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to ensure a free,fair credible and peaceful polls.
The Stakeholders made their feelings known in Umuahia, during a Sensitization And Capacity Strengthening Workshop For Religious Leaders And Policy Makers, organised by Interfaith Dialogue Forum for Peace (IDFP) towards a peaceful 2023 elections.
Speaking during the workshop, a Co-Chair of the IDFP, Bishop Sunday Onuoha, while noting that voter education is essential for the actualisation of a peaceful elections
that the essence of the workshop is to educate the people on the right approach to electoral processes and the need to exercise their franchise.
He said that IDFP was focused on mobilising relevant stakeholders across the country to educate Nigerians, especially in the rural areas on what to do during the general elections.
Onuoha, a gubernatorial candidate of the ADC,said that recent national discourse had showed that Nigerians were desirous to vote in the general elections and they need to be assured that they would be safe while voting and that their votes would count.
He expressed the commitment of IDFP in mobilising all relevant stakeholders to ensure that the nation would have a peaceful general election and charged members of the civil society organizations to ensure that they spread knowledge obtained from the workshop to the communities and grassroots where they belong to.
Also speaking, the Chairman, Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, Abia State branch, Emmanuel Agomuo called on INEC to use religious leaders as returning officers for the 2023 General elections, adding that religious leaders would do better if engaged by the electoral body.
In an address, a Co-Chair of IDFP, Sheik Ali Ukiwo, called on civil society organizations, religious leaders and all stakeholders to sensitise Nigerians on the need to have a peaceful, free and fair election in the country.
Ukiwo, who is also the Chief Imam of Abia, said that the essence of the workshop was to engage religious leaders and members of the civil society to sensitize the electorates on how to achieve a credible election.
He said that it was expected that the seminar would create increased awareness about the 2023 general elections and the need to make informed decisions during the elections.
In a lecture presentation on the Voting Procedures, Electoral Offences and Penalties, the Assistant Director, Voter Education and Publicity Department of INEC, Mrs Dorathy Inyang,urged participants to support the commission’s effort to boost voter education.
Inyang said that the essence of the voter education campaigns was to ensure that the electorate make well informed choices and decision during the electioneering season.
She said that INEC had introduced a lot of innovations such as replacing the card reader machines with Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), adding that “the 2023 general elections would not be business as usual”.
