The National Democratic Institute, NDI, is seeking partnership with stakeholders in Kogi State to ensure conduct of peaceful and non-violent governorship election on November 16.
Senior Programme Manager of NDI, Bem Aga made the call in Lokoja on Tuesday at the opening of a three-day advocacy, community and voter education training for ‘Vote Not Fight’ strategy committee members and LGA Coordinators in Kogi State.
The ‘Vote Not Fight’ campaign, which is supported by NDI, UKaid, USAID in partnership with the 2Baba Foundation and Youngsters, is being implemented in Kogi State by Participatory Initiative for Behavioural Change in Development (PIBCID).
Aga said there was need for consensus, commitment and collective actions amongst stakeholders such as the electoral umpire, the electorate, the youths, security agencies, traditional institutions and political actors to secure the November governorship election in Kogi.
He said NDI, which is a nonprofit organization working to support and strengthen democratic institutions worldwide, will be awarding grant to PIBCID to ensure sustained advocacy and awareness campaign among youths and other stakeholders in Kogi on the need to eschew violence in the forthcoming election.
Executive Director of PIBCID, Mrs Gift Omoniwa, in her opening remarks, said her organisation was excited to work with NDI and assured of their readiness to work hard towards engendering a peaceful election through advocacy and awareness campaign.
INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner in the state, Prof James Apam, who was represented by the commission’s Administrative Secretary, promised to support the project to ensure its success.
He said the commission would provide level playing field for all candidates in the forthcoming election in its quest to ensure delivery of free, fair and credible poll.
Stakeholders at the training identified partisanship by the security agencies/the electoral umpire; ethnic and religious politics; politics of godfatherism, thuggery and vote buying, among others as some of the contentious issues that were springing up ahead of the November governorship election in Kogi.
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