Worried by the high number of voided votes in the last gubernatorial election in Osun State, a group, Buhari Support Organisations has called on political parties and Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to educate voters on their roles during the coming elections.
The group, which embarked on train-the-trainer programme for voters in southwest, said this is necessary to avoid votes being voided as witnessed in past elections.
Felix Awofisayo, chairman of the group in southwest, said the training exercise was crucial not just to the deepening democracy, but also to the defense of Nigeria’s democratic process.
He added, “What The Buhari Support Group in the Southwest is putting together today with just days to a pivotal presidential election is not an academic exercise. It is at the very heart of the democratic process. For a start, twenty years after the restoration of democratic government, the framework as well as the processes of the electoral order is still been fine-tuned and constantly redefined. Crucially a predominantly youthful demographic segment is reaching the voting age for the first time.”
Awofisayo noted that 89% of the voided votes in the last governorship election were cast for the APC, a development he described as disturbing.
With the about seventy presidential candidates on the ballot paper, Awofisayo stressed that his organisation seeks to tackle the issue of illiteracy, an uneven education system and inadequate public enlightenment of the electorate in the zone.
He insisted that the challenges were real and if not sensibly tackled in a pro – active manner it could derail the democratic process.
“To do so the trainers will have to be trained to avoid the pitfalls so that they themselves will be the pivotal trajectory in a massive coordinated voters education framework. It is important because there is far too much at stake, and the margin of error very slim.
“The effective use of enlightenment frameworks, including the social media must be deployed and the traditional media have to be engaged for the widest dispersal of information and indeed monitoring on Election Day itself,” he added.
Awofisayo charged the participants to be diligent, proactive and pay attention to details, describing the training as one of the most vital ways of translating the message of continuity of President Buhari into valid votes.
The post BSO Calls For Voters Education Ahead Elections appeared first on Independent Newspapers Nigeria.
Source: Daily Independent
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Title :
BSO Calls For Voters Education Ahead Elections
Description : Worried by the high number of voided votes in the last gubernatorial election in Osun State, a group, Buhari Support Organisations has call...
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