INEC speaks on ensuring free and fare election
The Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Yakubu Mahmood has again reiterated the desire of the commission to organise a free and fare elections.
Speaking at a one day training organised by Transition Monitoring Group, TMG in Ogun State, Mahmood further explained that Bimodal Voter Registration System (BVAS) is an innovation that will capture either the face or the thumbprint of voters.
Represented by Mrs V.I Adeniyi from the Election Political Party Liaison (EPPL) unit INEC Chairman appreciated the observers for their role in the mock exercise as conducted on Saturday 4th February, 2023, adding that challenges during the mock accreditation are recorded and report written and forwarded to the National Secretariat at Abuja.
The chairman said the commission will ensure a free, fair and credible elections, adding that all election observers will be called for briefing before the election and there will be a debriefing session after the election to harmonise opinions observed on the field.
The training supported by USAID and Palladium had participants across the twenty local government areas of the state.
The objective of the training was handled by Dammylola Shodiya, while overview of the Transition Monitoring Group Project was handled by Sina Adefolahan, as well as unbundling the voting and result transition process by Tayo Akinpelu.
The technical session also include; key provisions of the elections act 2022 and Impact on Elections by Lekan Sodipo and Transition Monitoring Group 2023 election observation checklist handled by Adesegun Adesina
In his speech, the South-West Co-ordinator of Transition Monitoring Group (TMG) Mr. Adesina Adefolahan explained that the objectives of the training was to familiarize the local government area Supervisors with the Supporting Citizens’ Engagements Towards the 2023 Election project
Sina Adefolahan who represented the National Chairman of Transition Monitoring Group (TMG) Mr. Auwwal Musa Rafsanjani, stressed that the training was to refresh capacity of the local government areas supervisors on election observation at the councils level, facilitate effective mobilization of citizens to participate in the 2023 election and enhance Transition Monitoring Group (TMG’s) observation of the 2023 general elections
The coordinator pointed out that the expected outcomes of the step down training are that the Transition Monitoring Group (TMG) local government observers have understanding of the Supporting Citizens Engagement towards the 2023 Election project and their roles in its implementation.
This equally include capacity of the local government observers are enhanced to observe the general elections for group members at the local government level, and citizens are mobilized at the state level to participate actively in the election
The Ogun State Coordinator of Transition Monitoring Group(TMG), Adesegun Adesina said in ensuring that the objective of the project is achieved all hands must be on deck most especially by educating and mobilising populace to participate actively on election days so as to mitigate against voter apathy as recorded at the previous elections
‘Today marks another significant history in Ogun State as we assemble ourselves to do a step down training for the LGA Supervisors on 2023 General Elections Observation. I’m grateful to TMG BoT and the leadership of TMG as led by the Chair for providing a direction despite the financial status of the organization’, he added
‘And at present TMG has received a small grant from Palladium which supported the step down training to the LGA Supervisors nationwide. Hence, 20 LGA Supervisors would be trained on what is expected of them before, during and after elections in their various local governments of assignment’, Adesina said.
