Election in 2023: FG pledges to protect states from those who incite violence

The general Election for 2023 is less than two weeks away, and there are growing worries surrounding it. The Federal Government has reiterated its commitment to taking every precaution to ensure that the exercise is conducted in a peaceful manner.

Maj. Gen. Bashir Magashi (rtd), Minister of Defence, stated during the Passing Out Ceremony of Batch 33 at the Nigerian Navy Basic Training School in Onne, Rivers State, that the Federal Government has plans in motion to secure every nook and cranny of the nation and foil hoodlum attempts to disrupt the election.

The promise was made at the same time that the UN urged political parties to abstain from violence and emphasized the need of including the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in their platforms.

The UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Nigeria, Matthias Schmale, urged political parties to work toward credible, open, and peaceful elections in the nation during a recent roundtable with representatives of 10 registered political parties that will take part in the upcoming presidential and other elections.

Before, during, and after the election, the UN Chief urged all participants to defuse tensions and prevent violence, saying that the UN will continue to actively engage with the government and other important players at both the national and state levels.

On the other hand, Yiaga Africa, a Civil Society Organization (CSO), urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to address difficulties seen in the mock accreditation yesterday in order to prevent the identified inadequacies from recurring during the presidential election.

Samson Itodo, the executive director of Yiaga Africa, made the appeal while presenting the group’s report in Abuja on the testing, mock accreditation, and electronic transmission of accreditation data for the Bimodal Voters Accreditation System (BVAS).

Itodo regretted that the mock election exercise had confirmed that INEC had moved registered voters to new polling places without notifying the voters beforehand. This revealed a potential operational challenge that the movement of voters to polling places could present on election day when voters are unable to find their polling places.

While on election duty, military personnel were cautioned by Magashi at the Passing Out Ceremony of Batch 33 of the Nigerian Navy Basic Training School in Onne to perform professionally and refrain from actions that would bring the armed forces into shame.

Magashi said that although if the military is not the leading organization in the election, it will make sure that every activity during the election is conducted out in a proper manner. Magashi was represented by Air Marshal Isiaka Amao, the Chief of the Air Staff. He pledged to make arrangements to secure every state and stop thugs from interfering with the election.

“The police are the leading organization, not the military. To make sure that every procedure is followed during the election, we are, nevertheless, at the peripheral. In order to prevent thugs from interfering in the election, we will also secure every state.

The general election of 2023 will undoubtedly take place across the nation in a few days, and some of you will be sent to support it as part of the military’s assistance to civil authorities. Be professional and refrain from behavior that will harm the reputation of the armed forces.

The 1,562 trainee ratings were also given instructions by the defense minister to integrate themselves properly in order to enhance their skills and abilities and reach their full potential.

He praised the recruits and noted that they were joining the military at a time when the nation needed people with these qualities, especially in the Armed Forces to successfully address current security issues nationwide.

“The Nigerian Navy Basic Training School, Onne, has upheld its mission of turning civilians into qualified and professional ratings over the years. I am aware that throughout time, the trainees have incorporated best practices to address current issues related to fulfilling international standards. I am confident that you have gained the knowledge and skills required to carry out the execution of kinetic ways of conflict resolution. As a result, I implore you to use your newly learned skills wisely as you carry out your duties in support of national security,” Magashi stated.

“With attendees from across the political spectrum, this is a promising sign for the commitment of Nigeria to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development – regardless of the outcome of the upcoming elections,” Schmale said in his remarks to the roundtable with representatives of 10 registered political parties.

He continued by saying that 193 UN member nations, including Nigeria, accepted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in 2015. He pointed out that the 2030 Agenda’s core consisted of 17 unbreakable SDGs.

The UN Resident Coordinator stated that “together, these interconnected goals set out a vision for a secure world free from poverty and hunger, with full and productive employment, access to quality education and universal health coverage, the achievement of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls, and an end to environmental degradation.”

Further emphasizing the necessity for political parties to include the SDGs in their platforms, he noted the urgent need to save the SDGs and quicken the process of moving toward its fulfillment by the year 2030.

Political party representatives that attended the meeting showed knowledge of the SDGs and provided connections between the party’s programs and the SDGs. They promoted gender equality, decent health and great education, social justice, the eradication of poverty, and renewable energy.

Action Alliance (AA), Africa Action Congress (AAC), Action Democratic Party (ADC), Boot Party, Labour Party, National Rescue Movement (NRM), People’s Redemption Party (PRP), People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Social Democratic Party (SDP), and Young Progressive Party representatives were present at the roundtable (YPP).

Itodo added that the deployment of electoral technology by INEC must adhere to the principles of openness, accountability, suitability, cost effectiveness, security, accuracy, and inclusion in order to meet Nigerians’ expectations.

Itodo stated that as INEC was relying on electoral technology to increase the transparency and legitimacy of the election, data and technology would play significant roles in the 2023 polls. He declared that electoral instruments like the BVAS and the INEC Election Result Viewing Portal (IREV) would be used. He gave INEC the responsibility of making public its reports on the preparation, testing, and simulated accreditation of the BVAS as well as any updates on the actions taken to resolve any issues that were discovered during the mock accreditation.

“INEC should look into instances when the BVAS failed to verify voters’ biometrics even though their names were on the voter list. The BVAS and IReV will gain public trust as a result of this.“

INEC shall, as a matter of national emergency, inform all voters impacted by the relocation of polling places of changes to their polling places via text messages, emails, and phone calls, if possible.

“A copy of the voter list should also be posted in each polling place so that voters can confirm where they will be voting. A nationwide drive to find and validate your voting locations using online and physical platforms ought to support this, the speaker argued.”

Itodo stated that INEC must repeat the transfer of the BVAS accreditation data to the IReV for the general election. The number of accredited voters registered on the BVAS and the accreditation figures entered on the result sheets by poll workers must agree in order for the election to be transparent, he continued. This may be verified by citizens.

In order to prevent conflicts between the election results recorded on the polling units’ result sheets and the accreditation data sent by the BVAS to the IReV, he suggested that INEC train polling officials in the recording and documentation of election results.

Before using them for the general election, he directed INEC to make sure that all of the BVAS devices used for the fake accreditation were changed to read zero in the field for accreditation.

Itodo revealed that Yiaga Africa’s suggestions were made in light of INEC’s extensive accreditation process.

Cynthia Mbamalu, Director of Programs at Yiaga Africa, said that in the states visited by the group, BVAS testing was successful and ICT employees showed strong familiarity with the systems and testing procedures.

But according to her, some devices’ activation and configuration tests failed as a result of hardware issues with things like broken cameras, screens, and power buttons.

She pointed out that the exercise had terrible Internet connectivity as well. “Network issues were primarily present in the states of Adamawa, Taraba, Akwa Ibom, and Rivers. More than half of the places visited during the four visits suffered network issues that made it difficult for the machines to activate on the days of observation. There have been reports of faulty BVAS devices in states like Sokoto, Edo, and Akwa Ibom. When the ICT officials tried to use the machines, they found that the hardware components were faulty. The three most common hardware flaws were a broken camera, a bad screen, and a broken fingerprint scanner, according to data from half of the centers.The three most common hardware flaws were a broken camera, a bad screen, and a broken fingerprint scanner, according to data from half of the centers.

In order to find and confirm their polling places before election day, registered voters must use platforms offered by INEC, said Mr. Ezenwa Nwagwu, board member of Yiaga Africa.

This, according to Nwagwu, would expedite the voting process on election day. After the general elections in 2023, he urged the National Assembly to adopt additional revisions to the Electoral Act 2022 that would make conducting testing and simulated elections for electoral technologies essential and specify the timeframes for doing so.

The post Election in 2023: FG pledges to protect states from those who incite violence appeared first on Opagnews.