2019: FG urges stakeholders’ collaboration for credible polls

The Federal Government has urged critical stakeholders in electoral matters to collaborate with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in order to ensure free, peaceful and transparent conduct of the 2019 general elections.

The Director General, National Orientation Agency (NOA), Dr. Garba Abari, made the call in Abuja on Wednesday at a two-day conference organised by the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD), with the theme: “Electoral Integrity in Nigeria: Tackling Corruption in the Country’s Electoral Process”.

According to Abari, who was represented by the Director, Documentation, Translation and Publication of the agency, Dr. Davidson Aminu, Nigerians should imbibe the spirit of tolerance and maturity to enable the country achieve successful 2019 polls.

“The INEC has the onerous task of conducting peaceful, free and fair elections.

“However, INEC alone cannot succeed without synergy with other critical stakeholders either in their individual or instructional capacities to effectively manage the elections.

“In discharging their respective and collective responsibilities, both the INEC and other stakeholders must be guided by the need for the process to be transparent, ensuring that voters are guaranteed the exercise of their voting rights and that political parties are offered level-playing field.

“Both the state and non-state actors in the electoral process must place national interest over and above any personal interest. Nigeria belongs to all of us. It is our collective responsibility to stand for the unity, peace, stability and sustainable democratic good governance. This should motivate all Nigerians to join hands to ensure the success of the 2019 elections,” he said.

Also, the national chairman of the Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC), Chief Peter Ameh, said the 2019 elections must count and that the conduct of Nigerians is a key to achieving such.

“The system in place is good enough to ensure that votes count and it is important that the citizens play their parts patriotically too,” Ameh, who is also the National Chairman of the Progressives Peoples Alliance (PPA), said.

On his part, a political scientist lecturer at the Federal University, Oye, Ekiti State, Prof. Shola Omotola, said that Nigeria was beginning to witness a garrison democracy in which the opposition political parties were not free to air their views.

This development, he said, may erode the integrity of the 2019 elections, adding that the citizens should be more involved in the electoral process.