The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), says it will do its possible best to conduct a credible and peaceful governorship election in Kogi State on November 11, 2023.
The INEC’s National Commissioner in charge of planning, Monitoring and Strategy Committee ( PMSC), Professor Rhoda Gumus gave this commitment on Saturday in Lokoja while speaking the Election Monitoring and Reporting ( ERM) sensitisation workshop organised by the commission.
Gumus, however, said the success conduct of the coming governorship election depended on the role all stakeholders would play in achieving this goal.
According to her, the Sensitization Workshop for Election Risk Monitoring (ERM), is in preparation for the Kogi governorship election holding on Saturday, November 11, 2023.
INEC organised the workshop to identify Electoral Risk Management and address gaps in the planning and implementation of the governorship elections.
The one-day workshop with the theme ” ERM Sensitization Workshop For Stakeholders Towards 2023 Governorship Election” was on the training of security stakeholders, as well as CSOs and media practitioners.
All electoral officers of INEC in the 21 local government areas of the state were also in attendance.
“The purpose of this workshop is to create awareness, identify and discuss election risk factors with election security stakeholders, as well as CSOs and media and propose mitigation measures.
“No election is considered small because elections are complex undertakings. Regardless of the environments where they take place, Election Management Bodies (EMBs) face numerous risks in organizing them; either Presidential, National Assembly or State Elections.
“These risks are linked to legal, operational, technical, political, security and other aspects of electoral processes,” She said.
Gumus said although, understanding and explaining outbreaks of election-related violence is a complex task, it has become an imperative venture.
“This is necessary, because it will help in predicting whether an anticipating election will turn violent, which factor may underlie or trigger violence and what can be done to prevent violence is even more difficult,” she stated.
The INEC national commissioner said one way to address this problem is to “empower those who have immediate responsibility to prevent and mitigate election- related violence such as election management bodies, security sector agencies etc.
“The International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEAs) Electoral Risk Management Tool (ERM Tool) is designed to enhance user capacity to understand various risk factors, analyze risk data and take action to prevent risks from materializing and mitigate negative effect they would produce on the credibility of electoral processes.
“Electoral risk that materialize can trigger or contribute to triggering election-related violence especially in conflict-affected societies and Nigeria is not an exception.”
Gumus said the
technical workshop focused on the need to create customized codes for both risk factors and indicators, specifically to suit Nigeria context.
She explained that Kogi State has become one of the states to conduct an off- cycle governorship election as a result of judicial pronouncement issues.
Gumus, However, said there is history of violence prone areas identified in previous years, and still trending, especially in conflict- affected communities which need close attention.
In line with the above, she said that the commission has embarked on a “ground- truthing field work exercise which will provide data for analysis, relevant to produce risk alerts, risk maps and recommendations for prevention/mitigation actions on a variety of electoral risk factors which would be channeled to the INEC leadership and shared with the inter-Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES). ”
She urged participants at the workshop to put in their best during the workshop.
The INEC Commissioner stated that their inputs in identifying possible areas of treats and proffering solution would aid the peaceful conduct of the election.
While welcoming participants to the workshop, the Kogi State Resident Electoral Commissioner, Mr Gabriel Longpet , said it was organised as part of efforts being put in place to ensure a successful conduct of the coming governorship election in the state.
Longpet said the one-day workshop is expected to impact on preparation, planning and execution of the programmes designed for the successful conduct of Governorship election in kogi state .
While saying that it is the constitutional responsibility and obligation of INEC to conduct free, fair credible and hitch-free election, Longpet, said the commission must however, demonstrate, determination to conduct acceptable election for kogi people in 2023.
“It is crystal clear that all eyes are on INEC, electoral umpire concerning the conduct of the much anticipated 2023 governorship elections.
“It is therefore imperative that all hands must be on deck to support and avail preparations that are on top gear for a resounding success in the forthcoming governorship election in kogi state,” he said.
The REC further said that the aim of the workshop is to review the Commission’s level of preparedness, identify gaps if any and knowing about the Electoral Risk Management (ERM).
Some of the areas covered at the training workshop are; Introduction of Risk Management (ERM), Identification of Risk Factors, Indicators and Risk Levels, Introduction to Risk Map, Identification of Risk Factors and preventive/Mitigation measures in the senatorial districts and Report from plenary/Harmonization of Risk Factors. (vitalnewsngr.com)
