Benin City — THE Whillz Trust Foundation, through its Youth-led Electoral Reform Project, on Wednesday, said that the September 21 governorship election in Edo State is a time for the Independent National Electoral Commission and security agencies to restore confidence in the electoral process even as it called on the INEC not to allow political parties and politicians play any role in their activities.
Executive Director, Whillz Trust Foundation, Aaron Anyamwu, said a credible election in the state would begin the process of restoring the confidence of Edo and Nigerian youth in the electoral process.
In the group's recommendation, Anyamwu urged INEC to improve its relationship with the National Union of Road Transport Workers and other associations that handle its logistics as they have been responsible for the late arrival of election materials in previous elections and urged them to improve the process in Edo state.
He added, "A free, fair and credible election in the state would begin the process of restoring the confidence of Edo and Nigerian youth in the electoral process.
"We recommend that INEC improves coordination with its Electoral Officers and the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) who have been at the centre of late deployment of election materials in previous elections, to improve the process in Edo state. Deliberate steps should also be taken to ensure that the political class do not play any active role in assisting INEC to deploy election materials as observed in previous elections.
"The commission must ensure that only trained INEC personnel are deployed on election day to prevent the experience of ad hoc staff being unable to properly carry out election day duties at the polling unit.
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"We also urge the INEC to deploy a sufficient number of assistive materials such as braille ballot guides, election day written instructions, and magnifying glasses, among others. We also urge the Commission to ensure that there is priority voting for persons with disabilities, pregnant women and the elderly across the state in line with INEC guidelines and the electoral act. This will promote inclusion and accessibility for PWDs and people from other marginalised groups in Edo state.
He also urged the Nigeria Police and other security agencies to provide adequate security for the conduct of peaceful, free, fair and credible elections.
Anyanwu also urged Edo youth to participate in the election in a peaceful manner before, during and after the September 21 poll.
He also enjoined Edo people to come out en mass to vote for the candidate of their choice based on their conscience and the ability of such candidate to provide the quality of governance that will affect their lives positively.
