Do not Postpone 2015 general election -Prof. Gambari, others told INEC
Posted by admin | 9 years ago | 2,766 times
Some experts in election management have made a call on the Independent National Electoral Commission and the Federal Government to ensure that the 2015 general elections are not postponed “for whatever reasons,” suggesting that Internally Displaced Persons should be allowed to vote . They also warned security agencies in the country against being partisan in the forthcoming elections.
The experts made the suggestions in a communique issued on Saturday in Abuja at the end of a two-day conference on the role of the State and Non-State actors in mitigating violence in elections with the theme ‘Nigeria 2015 Elections and Beyond’.
The event was organised by the Savannah Centre for Diplomacy, Democracy and Development in collaboration with the Centre for Strategic and International Studies.
The conference drew participants from security agencies, the media, INEC, political parties as well as Civil Society Organisation. The centre also urged political parties to avoid the use of provocative and divisive or hate language.
The communique was jointly endorsed by the chairman of Savannah Centre, Prof. Ibrahim Gambari, and the Director of African Programmes in CSIS, Ms. Jennifer Cooke.
“The conference agreed that the 2015 general elections should not be postponed for whatever reason and that IDPs should be factored into the elections,” the communique stated.
According to the participants, as a leading actor in the Nigerian electoral process, INEC should conduct free, fair and credible elections.
They also charged the electoral umpire to demonstrate absolute impartiality and professionalism in the conduct of the elections. The asked the commission to ensure that IDPs participate in the elections and make sure that Permanent Voter Cards were duly collected much ahead of the elections, so that nobody was disenfranchised.
Source : Punch
Source: PUNCH
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