ANAMBRA GOVERNORSHIP ELECTION: INEC IDENTIFIES FIVE CRITICAL AREAS OF CONCERN.
(By Chinwe Ogbuka - Assistant Director, Publicity. Published by Rotimi Oyekanmi on 16th January 2021)

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has identified five critical areas of concern and challenges likely to confront the Commission in the conduct of the Anambra Governorship election this year and the 2023 general elections.

These areas of concern include expanding voter access to Polling Units in the context of a growing population, the growth of new settlements across the country and validation of the Voters roll and Continuous Voters Registration (CVR) in the shadow of the COVID- 19 pandemic.

Others are the amendment of the Electoral Act that would improve the conduct of free, fair, transparent elections; deepening technology in the electoral process and rolling out Electoral Voting Machines for the Anambra Governorship election.

Equally of great concern to the Commission is how to increase Voter turnout in future elections and how to effectively manage electoral success recorded in the last two off -season elections in Edo and Ondo States.

The Commission’s concern was expressed by the National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee (IVEC), Festus Okoye Esq. today while speaking at the end of a five-day Workshop for Review of INEC Voter Education Manual, held at Sawalino Hotel, Keffi, Nasarawa State.

The INEC Voter Education Manual is being reviewed by the Department of Voter Education and Publicity (VEP) with the aim of identifying and including best methods of designing voter education messages to increase citizens’ participation in the electoral process. The exercise is being supported by the Westminster Foundation for Democracy.

For the Commission to achieve the concerns enumerated above, the IVEC Chairman challenged the department (VEP) to design new, creative and innovate messages that would address the electoral concerns and challenges of the Youth and Students population.

The Chairman reminded VEP Staff that in designing voter education messages, they must be able to compete effectively on the social media and “our narratives and messages must be clear, concise and believable.”

Commissioner Okoye said while designing voter education messages, “INEC must take on board societal changes and dynamics” and urged the participants to design new methodologies of delivering Civic and Voter Education in the context of a pandemic.

He informed participants that the Commission has resolved to sustain the momentum of the successes recorded in the Edo and Ondo Governorship elections and also increase voter turnout in elections through the provision of access to the Polling Units.

Realising the fact that the Commission cannot succeed alone in the task of conducting successful elections, the Commissioner said: “We must build multi-sector coalitions for the sustenance of the electoral process and consolidation of democracy.”

On the issue of Voter Register, Okoye said that the Commission is determined to clean up the Voters’ Register and register all those that are eligible and constitutionally qualified to be registered.

The Commissioner commended the department for its robust voter education and publicity activities in the past years which led to the successes recorded by the Commission adding, “without VEP, we would not have achieved the new face of INEC.”

The Chairman, on behalf of the Commission thanked the Westminster Foundation for Democracy for sponsoring the workshop and urged it to consider taking this initiative down to the state level, so as to build the capacity of INEC Staff at the State and Local Government levels.


..
Sources:
https://inecnews.com/anambra-governorship-election-inec-identifies-five-critical-areas-of-concern/

https://twitter.com/inecnigeria/status/1350576713357529094?s=19

https://www.facebook.com/188127847873279/posts/4021878071164885/?app=fbl

God Bless INEC.
GOD BLESS NIGERIA.
..
I just hope that with this new Electoral Voting Machines, it would make the results of Polling Units, Wards Collated Results, LGAs Collated Results, States Collated Results, Final Collated Results will be easily and readily available on the INEC’s Online Virtual Results Portal.

But I keep asking the same questions as always:
Why is it that INEC are only interested in the Electoral Voting Machines, which has to do with only Electronic-Voting alone?
..
With what the INEC is currently planning, After the elections at the Polling-units, the various Electoral Officers would carry the various Voting Machines in supposedly security-guarded vehicles, to where they would be manually accessed and manually collated.
..
This is very wrong.!!
..
Since the votes are done electronically, it is best practice for the votes to also be transmitted electronically - and simultaneously - to All the respective and appropriate Wards Electoral Collation Machines, the LGAs Electoral Collation Machines, the States Electoral Collation Machines, and so on.
..
INEC did Not mention anything about Electronic-Collation in all the things they enumerated, neither did they mention Electronic-Transmission.

Their only concern should be how to elect a competent individual that would end the drug and baby factory epidemic in their state.

Karlovic:
Their only concern should be how to elect a competent individual that would end the drug and baby factory epidemic in their state.

With a very faulty electoral process, don't you think that what happened in Uganda on the 14th of January 2021 would replicate itself in Anambra by November, where the will of the people and the votes of the people would be averted and diverted?

BluntCrazeMan:
With a very faulty electoral process, don't you think that what happened in Uganda on the 14th of January 2021 would replicate itself in Anambra by November, where the will of the people and the votes of the people would be averted and diverted?

Election rigging has come to stay now, if it can happen in USA then it can happen anywhere.

Karlovic:
Election rigging has come to stay now, if it can happen in USA then it can happen anywhere.

Anambra to the World.
Nigeria to the World.
..
Let it then be in the world record books that The Very First Totally Free And Fair Election In the whole world start from Anambra And Nigeria.
At least with that, when the people use their God-given discretion to vote for a competent individual, the person will still be the person to win, and the person will put the State in order.

Las las na malpractice go decide the winner.

cenaman:
Las las na malpractice go decide the winner.

It pains me though to believe that this is going to be the truth about the election.
But in the end, there will still be Electoral Fraud, and that's the bitter truth that I don't want to believe yet.
I still strongly believe that INEC will get things working perfectly in order by November, and that there will be less than 3% irregularities in the results, and most importantly All levels of the results (both Polling-units and Collated Results) will be freely and readily available with just some few clicks”

Odewaleadesoye:
We sabi the winner even before conducting the election

You sabi the winner??
Please who him be?

Odewaleadesoye:

You no wan answer again?

BluntCrazeMan:
It pains me though to believe that this is going to be the truth about the election.
But in the end, there will still be Electoral Fraud, and that's the bitter truth that I don't want to believe yet.
I still strongly believe that INEC will get things working perfectly in order by November, and that there will be less than 3% irregularities in the results, and most importantly All levels of the results (both Polling-units and Collated Results) will be freely and readily available with just some few clicks”

I hope so too.

Odewaleadesoye:

We're not permitted to spit it out

Tell us something.
One thing is that it will still come to pass after-all.

Lalasticlala
Seun

Mynd44