We’re committed to conducting credible election in Bayelsa — INEC

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has said it is committed to conducting a free, fair and credible governorship election in Bayelsa State on November 11.

INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner in the state, Obo Effanga, said the commission is committed and prepared for the election. 

He said, “INEC is prepared for this election. We will do all we can to ensure that the election is successful. The only way anybody can win this election is to get voters voting for them. Therefore, the political parties and candidates should campaign now.

“We promise to do our best to ensure that this election is credible.”

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He said INEC will deploy BVAS in all the polling units, disclosing that of the 1,056 862 total registered voters in the state, 566,755 were males while 490,767 were females.

Also speaking, the Chairman of Maritime Union in Bayelsa State, Comrade Ogoniba Ipigansi, said they are fully ready and the union has prepared and already serviced 1005 boats for the exercise. 

Other participants that pledged their readiness and commitment included the Nigerian Immigration Service, Nigerian Correctional Service, National Orientation Agency (NOA) and Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corp.

Meanwhile, speaking during a roundtable session on the November 11 governorship election in Bayelsa State yesterday in Yenagoa, the Executive Director of Centre for Transparency Advocacy (CTA), Madam Faith Nwadishi, said citizens’ choices must never be subverted by the negative use of money to influence votes, including the criminal purchase of PVCs by politicians.

The roundtable which was organised by CTA attracted stakeholders from Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), security agencies, organised groups as well as voters to discuss the morals from credible polls in Bayelsa State.

Represented by the Programme Communication Manager of CTA, MacDonald Ekemezie, Nwadishi said as politicians are scrambling for votes to win election, the electorate should not trade with it as such an act hampers development.

She described security as a critical aspect of the electoral process that required attention during the entire process, adding that INEC had recently raised an alarm and fears indicating that insecurity might pose a great challenge to the election.

She said, “We recognise clearly that the symbolic presence of law enforcement agents at polling units on election day has not deterred vote buying. It is, therefore, important that a more result-oriented method like covert operations be adopted to curb this menace.”