Delta State Resident Electoral Commissioner of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Rev. Monday Udoh, on Tuesday said INEC is ready to conduct credible, free and fair elections across Delta state.

He said over 80 percent of new registered voters in the state have collected their Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs), urging all eligible voters to come out and vote for candidates of their choice in the upcoming 2023 election.

Udoh made this statement at Effurun, Uvwie Council Area of Delta State during a 1-Day Stakeholders Security Summit aimed at a violent free 2023 election and organized by the Nigerian Police in collaboration with the Transition Monitoring Group (TMG) Delta State chapter, Vote Not Fight, and INEC.

Udoh said, “Deltans are ready for this election judging from the fact that there had not been violence in the state unlike what is happening in other states. It is worthy to note also that whenever there was supposed to be problems we have put in motion processes to ensure that the problem did not happen.

“I can tell us that Delta State is one of the states that is doing well in terms of peace and PVC collections and INEC is making sure that the election is going to be free, fair and credible.”

Udoh however, lamented that only about 22 percent of old PVCs have been collected so far, wondering why the owners have refused to come and collect them.

Chairman, Transition Monitoring Group, Delta chapter, Pastor Edewor Egedegbe, said that to ensure credible elections in the state security deployment must be professionally coordinated to curb compromise by erring security personnel while security agencies must be alive to their responsibilities in ensuring safety and security of INEC officials, infrastructure, voters and election observers, during and after elections.

He said that law enforcement agencies on election duty should nip in the bud electoral offences ranging from canvassing for votes, persuading any voter not to vote for any particular candidate or not to vote at all at elections.

Egedegbe noted that election monitoring is critical in any election, but expressed displeasure with the political parties in Delta South and Central for not attending the summit.

While commending the Delta CP for his effort in ensuring peace and security in the state so far, Egedegbe advocated for a platform to monitor activities in all the polling units for quick responses.

Speaking to journalists on the sidelines, Pastor Egedegbe said, “No election is worth the blood of any Delta citizen. Everybody should align with the law of the land. The 2022 Electoral Act has given us the powers as registered citizens to go out and cast our votes and not to fight.

“There are penalties for contravening the process, anyone that contravene the law, the law will catch up with them.that is the new position.

“We are appealing to Deltans to be well behaved as we have been behaving all along. For a very long time Deltans have enjoyed relative peace and we want this peace to be sustainable. We don’t want to lose any Deltan in this election.”

Earlier, the Delta State Commissioner of Police, CP Mohammed Ali, noted that political violence is a serious threat to free, fair and credible election, appealing to all Stakeholders involved to work tirelessly to prevent violence wherever they are.

Ali, who was represented by the Deputy Commissioner of Police, DCP Johnson Adenola, said the summit was organized to bring all stakeholders in one place so that they can interact wit one another to see how everyone can contribute to a peaceful election.

While thanking INEC and the Civil Society Organizations for making the summit possible, CP Ali called on politicians in the state to play by the rules during and after the elections.

The Convener of Vote Not Fight, Mrs Martha Onose, also appealed to all eligible voters to go out and vote for the candidates of their choice, but however, added that they should do this on a very peaceful manner.

“There is is no need for fighting or rancour. Just go there and vote and after voting if you want to stay behind to monitor your votes please do it peacefully, but if you do not want to, please go home. We are not in a war time, we are in peaceful transition,” Onose said.

The summit attracted personalities from the media, political parties, religious organisations, government parastatals, security agencies, human rights groups, non-government organisations (NGO), Civil Society Organisations (CSO), among others.