Some stakeholders in Edo state yesterday expressed fears that there could be low voters turnout in the coming Mach 11 house of assembly election in the state as a result of the violence and insecurity experienced in some parts of the state during the February 25 presidential and National Assembly held in the state which led to the death of three people and destruction of polling materials in some areas.
This view was expressed during a stakeholders meeting ahead of the state house of assembly organized by the Mentoring Individual’s Dream Initiative (MiND Initiative) where they expressed concern over the non-inclusive house of assembly and called for sensitization for voters to participate in the exercise.
The Executive Director, MiND Initiative, Peter Aguebor said statistics showed that only 27 percent of voters that participated in the 2019 presidential and National Assembly election were out to vote two weeks after for the state house of assembly election a development he said necessitated the meeting to come with ways to encourage voters turnout in Match 11.
The State Director of the National Orientation Agency (NOA), Moses Ajayi said the agency had already begun a statewide sensitization for voters turnout and expressed concern that less than “25 million Nigerians voted in the last Saturday’s elections despite over 80 million people out of the 93 million registered Nigerians collected their PVCs and even at that, the 93 million registered voters is a far cry in the country of about 200 million people”
On her part, the Chairperson, Edo State chapter of the Joint National Association of Persons with Disabilities (JONAPWD), Ann Ojugo said the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) despite their agitations did not make adequate arrangement to care of Peoples With Disabilities (PWD), a situation she said could discourage PWDs from participating in the next election while the chairman, Edo State Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) Festus Alenkhe said there was need for security agencies to queried on what went wrong that led to the death of three people during the last election in the state.
On her part, the founder Initiative for Gender Equality and Advancement (IGEA) said from her experience in the field last Saturday, it was clear that INEC did not properly train its adhoc staff nor did the commission make adequate provision for their safety and welfare.
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