From left Ms Fisayo Olaleru Program Officer, Mr Semiye Michael Founder DEAN Initiative at the middle, during the report presentation: Picture Credit: Julian Osamoto
A Civil Society Organisation, Development for Educational Action Network (DEAN initiative) has advised politicians to shun inducement of voters during elections.
Founder of the organisation, Mr Michael Semiye, gave the advise at a Media briefing in Abuja, to present lessons from the 2023 INEC Mock election.
Semiye said the observations of the INEC Mock Elections, revealed that credible elections were possible without interference from the political class.
He explained that 50 observers from DEAN Initiative, were deployed during the Mock elections with about 744 observers to be deployed for the general election.
In his words “The Election Eyewitness Observation Mission has shown that it is possible to achieve a credible election free from violence and manipulation if allowed to hold without undue influence from politicians, the Mock Election has shown critically that our elections can go without any form of discrepancy and manipulations”.
Mr Semiye, recommended continuous training for the staff of INEC especially officers at the state level that were allegedly unruly during the Mock exercise.
He enjoined the electoral umpire to make necessary arrangements and resources for the field officers as politicians relish and take advantages of such gaps.
Contributing, the Financial Officer for the organisation, Ms Fisayo Olaleru noted that key areas of observation had been mapped ahead of the 2023 general election by DEAN.
According to her attention will be given to election time management, BVAS performance in areas such as facial recognition, battery lifespan, while adequate attention would be given to the general conduct of INEC staff and the security agencies that will be on duty.
“Other areas the Election Eyewitness will be observing is the possible incidences of vote buying, election violence, underage voting, voters confidence in BVAS, and the general performance of BVAS”.
“This is because the general election is crucial to Nigeria’s democracy and the Eyewitness Election observation is our contribution to the entire process for a successful and reliable election,” Ms Olaleru added.
Reporting by Julian Osamoto; Editing by Oluwaseyi Ajibade