Presidential Election : Embrace Peace; Shun Post Election Violence – BIGIF  Urges Aggrieved Parties  

– Outlines  Poll’s Challenges
Sola POPOOLA
A Civil Society platform dubbed  Case Tracking and Response Centre (CTRC)} has charged the  aggrieved political parties  that participated in the last Saturday’s Presidential and National Assembly elections to toe the path peace.
Ms. Oluwatumininu Adedeji, the initiator of CTRC and  Executive Director,
Balm in Gilead Foundation for Sustainable Development (BIGIF) gave this admonition  in a Post-Election Press Statement made available  to newsmen  in Ado-Ekiti .
Specially,  the centre  enjoined  parties to direct all electoral grievances to the relevant authorities without resorting to violence inorder to  prevent post-election violence.
The centre also  decried  the disenfranchisement of dome voters  due to polling units decongestion by INEC, as some were unable to locate their new polling units and could not vote in the elections.
It  flayed alleged  p oor capacity of some INEC Adhoc staff who ,according to it ,could not operate the BVAS and also displayed low knowledge of the voting procedures impacted the process at some polling units and this presented potential threat to elections
“Absence of security agencies at some polling units. Though this was reported at few polling
units but it predisposes voters and INEC officials to violence
” Operational failures of the process which manifested in the non-transmission of the elections results from polling units to the INEC IReV portal as required by the Electoral Act, 2022 after vote sorting and counting has largely reduced trust and portends a huge risk to the processes.
This also constituted a threat of violence to the electoral officials particularly where there were no security agents”
BIGIF  urged the  National Assembly and State Houses of Assembly to  pass legislation that can further strengthen women’s participation in politics.
It stated that women should be encouraged and supported by
government and political parties to increase their involvement in politics.
“Civil societies should increase their collaboration with security agencies for the purpose of
creating an enabling environment for women to participate in the political process without
discrimination and/or fear of intimidation.
” INEC should restore confidence in the general public by commencing a rejig of the electoral process and address operational failures in future elections” BIGIF said .
Also part of it recommendations  was the strengthening  the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) and other relevant institutions  to deal with vote trading in accordance with the Electoral Act, 2022.
“We are, however, calling on the Commission to make public the progress made with the prosecution of people arrested for vote buying in previous elections particularly during the Ekiti and Osun 2022 Governorship elections as this will serve as deterrence. We are calling for the full implementation of section 22 of the Electoral Act, 2022.”
“There was no report of violence against women in politics (VAWIP) made to the Centre in Ekiti State. However, the Centre received reports of violence against women in the elections and intimidation from Kogi, Lagos, Bayelsa, Nasarawa, Enugu and Cross Rivers states through the Centre’s toll free
line.
“Ironically, the CBN Cashless / Naira Design Policy was acknowledged to have facilitated low vote trading chances by politicians in the elections because of low cash in circulation. Low vote trading possibilities in the elections contributed to low reported cases of violence as political thugs and overzealous political activists could not participate effectively in the elections as there was poor mobilization by their sponsors due to low cash in circulation.
“This relatively contributed to low incidence of violence during the elections according to reports. The elderly, pregnant women and
persons living with disabilities (PWDs) were reported to have been given preference largely at polling units during the election from states where the Centre received reports including Ekiti, Osun, Lagos, Anambra, Bayelsa, Kogi, Kwara, Kaduna, Nasarawa, Ondo, Enugu, Cross Rivers States and FCT.”

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