.As NOA flags off voters’ education, hitch-free elections campaign
Nasarawa State Governor, Abdullahi Sule, has warned that his administration would sanction anyone found breaching the new electoral law, guiding the conduct of this year’s February and March general elections.
Governor Sule handed down the warning while flagging off voters’ education and sensitization programme, organized by the National Orientation Agency (NOA), in conjunction with the Nasarawa State Government in Lafia.
According to the Governor, anybody found breaching the rule of engagement, as stipulated in the electoral law, will face appropriate wrath of the law, no matter his or her status in the society.
He particularly warned against acts capable of encouraging politics of division, rivalry and thuggery, which may constitute a stumbling block to the state’s aspiration for enduring peace.
“As a people with common destiny, we cannot compromise peace neither can we encourage politics of division, rivalry and thuggery in our dear State.
“We cannot tolerate any act of misconduct capable of truncating the peaceful coexistence we are enjoying in the State in name of election.
“I assure you that anybody found wanting to the rule of engagement will face the appropriate wrath of the Law no matter his or her status in the society,” he warned.
The governor who commended the Agency for embarking on the sensitization programme, noted that, elections in Nigeria are usually marred by void ballot, voter apathy, political thuggery and other associated violence, resulting to avoidable loss of lives and destruction of property.
“With the flag-off of the Voter Education Programme today, I am optimistic that the electorates will be adequately and sufficiently sensitized and mobilized towards active participation in all the electoral processes in the State.
“This will ensure that prospective voters who either registered or updated their PVCs collect them before the closing date,” he said.
The Governor added that, with the release of the timeline for the conduct of the 2023 general elections by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), all hands must be on deck, to ensure peaceful, credible, free and fair elections in Nasarawa State and the country at large.
He however stressed that, the conduct of free, fair and credible election is not the affairs of the INEC alone, but a collective responsibility of all and sundry, including security agencies, royal fathers, religious and opinion leaders, among others who must come together to ensure the success of elections for the benefit of the people.
Sule then calyl on all those who are yet to collect their Permanent Voter Cards (PVC), to use the window provided by INEC to collect their PVCs.
Garba Abari, the Director General, National Orientation Agency, in an address restated the commitment of President Muhammadu Buhari to ensure the conduct of free, fair and transparent General elections, which would be largely accepted to the contestants and Nigerians at large.
The NOA Boss called on Nigerians not to play into the hands of prophets of doom, who keep parading issues that divide the people, rather than those that unites the people, thereby creating the wrong impression suggesting that this election is make or mar.
Various stakeholders at the event, including representatives of both the Christian Asaociation of Nigeria (CAN) and Jamaatul Nasril Islam (JNI), affirming their convictions on the efforts of INEC to conduct credible, free and fair elections come February.
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