Ahead of the December 12 local government elections, a civil society organization, Conscience for Human Rights and Conflict Resolution (CHRCR) has called on Kogi State Independent Electoral Commission (KOSIEC) to embark on voter education.
In a statement issued in Lokoja on Wednesday by its executive director, Idris Miliki, CHRCR said much has been left undone by the electoral umpire in terms of public enlightenment on the process and conduct of the much anticipated polls.
“It will be recalled that the Kogi State Independent Electoral Commission (KOSIEC) announced the time table for the conduct of elections into the local government councils on the September 9, 2020. Since then, various activities such as political party primaries have been conducted. It has been observed, however, that not much have been heard from the SIEC in terms of public enlightenment on the activities on elections.
“Elections goes beyond the political parties as it is not only members of parties that always vote on election day. Therefore, to be up and doing in educating the electorates on elections procedure and guidelines, as provided in the electoral laws in Nigeria and Kogi state in particular, SIEC should organize more stakeholders meeting and activities to enable them evaluate and to correct lapses that may exist.
“We call on the government to make necessary resources available on time. Having failed to to conduct elections in to the local government councils in the last four years, it can not afford to fail as the people of the state will not accept any excuses for for failure.
“Everything must be put in place to guarantee free, fair, credible and accountable local government elections in Kogi state.
“We urge the political parties not to engage in unguarded utterances and inflammatory statements that can increase the already tensed security situation,” he said.
CHRCR called on the people of the state to actively participate in the the process and charged security agencies to be professional and maintain neutrality.
