Edo State Governorship::TMG Charges INEC, Electorates

As the Edo State governorship election, inches closer, chairman of the Transition Monitoring Group (TMG) Auwal Musa Rafsanjani has given a timely charge on all parties concerned.

He has called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to ensure its  staff conducted themselves ethically and also for the electorate to vote candidates of their choice.

Rafsanjani who gave the charges at a press conference in Abuja, declared that  all parties must understand that election was not a do or die affair.

, “INEC staff and other electoral officials must conduct and hold themselves to the highest order, and Logistic preparation must be top-notch to eliminate scepticism about the credibility of the election”, he said..

He said political parties should play by the rules of the game and shun violence including inciting statements and utterances capable of leading to violence.

Rafsanjani said those were critical as his organisation would continue to monitor the activities of political parties and their supporters now, during and after the Edo State Governorship election.

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He also advised the Nigeria police and other law enforcement agencies not to stand aloof should unruly people commit crimes or generally take laws into their hands.

He asserted that Faith-based organisations, civil society organisations, and traditional and religious leaders should foster peace in their relationships with candidates and political parties towards the September 21, 2024, elections in Edo state.

Rafsanjani stressed that “Candidates are encouraged to speak to the issues, convey their messages to the citizens and supporters focusing on their manifesto without resorting to personal attack.He said By now,all the candidates are expected to have documented their manifestos to serve as reference material to the public which the citizen can use as bases to track their performance in office.

“TMG has observed instances of verbal attack, abuse and hate speech including online posts and comments which are capable of escalating into physical violence and attacks on innocent citizens of Edo State.

“TMG notes that some of these attacks have been carried out by  highly placed politicians in Edo state, with the disposition of such well-placed persons in the political

He equally called on the Economic Crimes and Financial Commission (EFCC) to deploy adequate monitors/personnel ahead and during the election to deter, arrest and prosecute perpetuators of vote buying and selling.

“TMG urges the voters in Edo to desist from selling their votes as it only enables to entrenchment of bad leaders who have no desire to better the welfare of the people but only to amass wealth from public funds.

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“TMG has recruited and trained Election Day observers to be deployed across all the Local government areas of the states.The observers will be retrained close to the election day to and will be deployed to observe and report through a digital on-the-spot reporting tool which has been developed by TMG’s ICT team.

TMG will establish a Central Data Centre located in Abuja managed by trained Data Clerks to interface with field observers, collate and analyze reports from the field”, he also stated.

.Analysts are of the view that the Edo State Governorship election would be another litmus for the INEC given the caliber of contenders.