By Chimezie Godfrey
CLEEN Foundation has urged the federal government to intensify its commitment to peaceful elections in Edo state.
The Executive Director of the foundation, Dr Benson Olugbuo who made the call through a statement he issued on Tuesday, also urged the government to encourage contestants to abide by the electoral acts during the election.
“CLEEN Foundation recommends the Federal Government of Nigeria issues intensify commitment to peaceful elections in the State, and encourage all contestants to abide by the electoral act.
“Also, desist from deploying the military into streets firing the elections to avoid heightened militarization of the state that could exacerbate voter apathy,”he stated.
Olugbuo suggested that there is need a partnership between Edo State Government and religious leaders, professional bodies, and community leaders to encourage and mobilize members to exercise their rights to vote.
He encouraged the state government to sustain public enlightenment programs through town hall meetings, radio, television, and social media on the dangers of cultism and drug abuse to mitigate their consequences for the elections.
The CLEEN Executive Director implores Security Agencies to implement robust and ‘right-sized’ deployment of operatives across the 18 LGAs to ensure efficient security provisioning before, during, and after the election.
“Intensifying surveillance patrols and interdiction operations in high-crime hot spots to deter drug and arms dealings in the state, collaboration with INEC to arrest all electoral offenders, including vote-buying, as well as utilizing the findings of this assessment and others that have provided evidence-based insights on potential security flashpoints.
“This is to evolve or fine-tune security incident response plan for the elections, would also prove, most beneficial,” he stressed.
Olugbuo encouragd INEC officials to be professional in the discharge of duty and ensure early distribution of non-sensitive materials to all LGA headquarters.
According to him, adequate preparation should be made to deliver all other materials promptly on the Election Day for timely commencement of voting.
He urged INEC to, provide and appropriately communicate to all stakeholders its platform for ensuring transparent counting, collation, and announcement of results.
He added that INEC should work closely with security agencies and CSOs for effective coordination of the process, complaints hotlines should be functional.
Olugbuo advised political Parties to commit to a Peace Agreement and be committed to it.
He urged them to encourage their flag bearers and supporters to abide by the provisions of the electoral law, including shunning the use of thugs, cultists and provocative speeches.
According to him, political parties should also adequately train their party agents to understand their roles and responsibilities to avoid acts that could compromise INEC officials or the electoral process.
He urged them to also, partner with the INEC to continuously and properly educate the people as well as counter misinformation, incitation that are capable of dissuading people from voting or triggering violence.
The CLEEN Executive Director, also advised the media to intensify awareness creation and voter education to discourage apathy and motivate people to vote.
He added that they should as well deliver refresher training to practitioners to maintain a high level of professionalism, accuracy, and impartiality in their coverage.
He urged media houses to continue to monitor and provide an impartial report on the entire electoral process to help protect the integrity of the elections and report only verified information obtained from trusted sources and promote peace messaging
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