‘Seun Ibukun-Oni, Abuja
DAILY COURIER – The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC has assured Nigerians that the 2023 general election will hold on schedule.
INEC National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Festus Okoye, disclosed this at a roundtable meeting with Bureau chiefs in Abuja today.
He submitted that out of the fourteen milestones of the commission leading to the 2023 general election, it has met nine of them as scheduled which implies that it is on track in its preparation.
Okoye said: “We assure all Nigerians that the processes and procedures as well as the preparations for the conduct of the 2023 general election are on course. Out of the 14 items in our Timetable and Schedule of Activities, we have implemented 9 and we implemented all of them on schedule. We are comfortable with the level of our preparations and as the Chairman of the Commission has assured the nation, never again will scheduled elections be postpone or rescheduled on account of logistics and logistics challenges.”
He added that no Nigeria who has validly registered will be denied the opportunity of voting. He however urged Nigerians not to wait till eleventh hour before going to collect their Permanent Voters Card (PVCs).
“We assure all Nigerians that the PVCs of those that registered between the 15th of January 2022 and July 31st, 2022, will be ready this month and the Chairman will give the exact date for collection. All those that registered within this period as well as all those that carried out transfer and those that applied for replacement will get their cards. Nigerians will have sufficient time for PVC collection. No Nigerian that validly and genuinely registered will be denied the opportunity of collecting his or her Permanent Voters Card. We plead that Nigerians should not wait till the 11th hour before approaching our Local Government Offices and the Wards for PVC collection” Okoye added.
The General Secretary of the Guild of Editors, Mr Iyogbosa assured Nigerians that the media is involved in the electioneering process to guarantee a fair and credible polls.
The dean of Bureau chiefs, Yusuf Alli tasks INEC to be fair and transparent. “The media’s job is to be fair minded and balance in its reportage. Please do your job well to make our jobs easy” Alli said.
The roundtable meeting with editors and Bureau chiefs which was the commission’s efforts at updating media executives on the latest developments in electoral management featured two papers: The Electoral Act, 2022 And the 2023 General Election delivered by the director legal drafting and clearance department of INEC and Key Technological Innovations for 2023 General Election by the director ICT, Paul Omokore.
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