Tejiri Ebikeme
The Executive Director of the Centre for the vulnerable and the underprivileged, (CENTREP), Barrister Oghenejabor Ikimi, has lauded Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, for insisting on the use of Permanent Voters Card and the Card Readers for the April 11 Governorship and National Assembly polls nationwide.
Speaking to our Correspondent in Warri, the human rights lawyer said the decision of INEC to use of the Permanent Voters Card and the Card Readers for the April 11 Governorship and House of Assembly elections nationwide was a welcome development.
He said, “We are glad to hear that INEC is going ahead to use the Permanent Voters Card and the Card Reader machines for the conduct of the April 11 Governorship and House of Assembly elections nationwide, and we welcome the move, as the use of the above electronic devise would not only guarantee a peaceful, free and fair election in our polity but same would give the entire exercise credibility in accordance with international best practices.”
“The electoral umpire having assured Nigerians that it has adequately addressed the initial hiccups experienced by voters across the country during the last Presidential election where the above electronic devise was deployed, we sincerely hope that the use of the card reader machines shall be deployed for use in subsequent elections nationwide since it is a panacea for recruiting selfless and visionary leaders in the polity,” he also said.
He condemned the recent Oba Akiolu death threats to Igbo leaders in his Palace in Lagos should the Igbos fail to vote for Mr. Ambode, his candidate in the April 11Governorship election in Lagos State.
According to him, “We strongly condemned this threat and should be regarded as primitive and we call on the highly revered Oba to apologize to the Igbos nationwide since both the video and audio tapes of the said meeting where the said threats were issued by him had since gone viral, thus paling into insignificant his subsequent refutal on some national dailies.”
Barrister Ikimi said “For the umpteen time, we call on all Nigerians of voting age to resist all forms of inducement and intimidation by voting for the candidates of their choice during the April 11 Governorship and House of Assembly elections nationwide irrespective of their tribe, religion, place of origin or place of domicile.”
