Candidates of major opposition parties for the November 11 governorship election in Kogi state have resolved to establish a joint election situation room as part of collaborative efforts to manage the electoral process across the 21 local government areas of the state.
This is without prejudice to their independent campaign structures and processes.
The decision was reached as part of resolutions at a strategic meeting of opposition candidates organized by COOPPS in preparation for the governorship election in the state.
The joint situation room will amongst other things monitor and evaluate the performances of the election, synchronize evidences in cases of electoral manipulations and infractions for legal representations and other related issues and create synergy amongst party agents of major opposition candidates in the election.
The joint situation room would also create a platform to enable voters track everything happening on election day using state of the art technological tools with embedded real-time intelligence.
In a telephone conversation with the Convener of COOPPS, Mr. Sani Idakwo Philips, revealed that there will be synergy amongst party agents of key opposition candidates in the 3,508 voting points of the state to provide direct updates in real time on election day in order to ensure that final results are deemed free, fair, and transparent—and locally credible.
“Elections in Kogi state is characterized with massive rigging and violence which has been largely aided by lack of collaboration and cooperation amongst opposition candidates in the state,” he explained.
He further revealed that COOPPS would be collaborating with democratic institutions, election observers and civil society organizations (CSO’s) with thematic references to credible elections thus making it difficult for those who have outlined rigging as a winning strategy.
