Edo Guber Countdown: Don’t sell your vote, INEC tells Edo Women

Ahead of Saturday September 10 Governorship election in Edo State, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC has admonished women in Edo State not to sell their votes, but to vote wisely so as not to mortgage their conscience for mere bags of rice, Our Benin City Correspondent reports.

The Deputy Director Gender Division, INEC Headquarters, Mrs. Blessing Obidegwu gave the advice in Benin City why educating Edo State women, Civil Society Groups, Non Governmental Organizations as well as Women Leaders from market Across the State.

While revealing the statistics of prospective voters in Edo State to be about 1,925,105, the INEC Deputy Director Gender Division stated that women makes a large percentage of eligible voters, but lamented that women active participation is very low.  She noted, “It is regrettable that only one political party fielded a woman candidate out of the 19 political parties contesting the Edo gubernatorial election and 8 fielded women as Deputy Governor, even the increase in the Deputy is as a result of our several engagements with political parties on the needs for them to involve more women in the political process”.

The INEC Gender Deputy Director who decried the rate of inconclusive elections in Nigeria, said Edo State could be different if violence, over -voting and impunity by political parties is discouraged.

Also speaking at the forum, The Deputy Country Director, International Foundation of Electoral Systems (IFES) Mrs. Uloma Osuala, opined that women should not just make up the numbers during voting, but should actively participate in the Electoral Process by vying for political offices.

Meanwhile, five Local Government Areas in Edo State have been identified as possible hot spot for election violence in the September 10 gubernatorial election after an extensive survey conducted among 783 individuals in the state by an NGO, Clean Foundation.

The Local Government Areas where election violence is likely to occur during the hugely anticipated poll are: Orhionmwon, Igueben, Oredo, Esan Central and Etsako West.

This much was revealed at a Workshop organized by Clean Foundation. The workshop was attended by representatives of the Nigerian Police Force, Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), Edo State Civil Society Organizations, Journalists from various Media Houses, Religious Leaders and some community leaders.

The Executive Director of the organization, Mr. Benson Olugbuo said the workshop became necessary due to the security threat associated with elections in Nigeria, particularly after sampling opinions of electorates from the 18 Local Government Areas that make up Edo State.

Our Benin City Correspondent reports that speakers at the Workshop include: Professor Musa Abutudu of the Department of Political Science, University of Benin, The INEC National Chairman, Mahmood Yakubu who was represented by his Special Adviser, Professor Mohammed Kuna and the Coordinator General of Edo Civil Society Organization Comrade, Agho Omobude.

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