By Vincent Ujumadu
THE immediate past Resident Electoral Commissioner, REC, of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, for Imo State, Professor Emeka Ezeonu has said that those hoping to rig the 2023 general elections would be disappointed, arguing that with the measures the Commission had put in place, the elections cannot be rigged.
Ezeonu, who spoke during an award ceremony organized by the Anambra State council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ, in Awka said the only thing Nigerians need to do is to get their Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs) and perform their civic responsibility next year.
According to him, the Electoral Law as amended has made it impossible for rigging to take place.
He said: “The approval of the BVAS has tightened the loopholes in card readers, making the electorate more confident that their votes would count.
“BVAS and the electronic transfer of results are two measures taken by INEC to secure the integrity of the ballot
“I assure that nobody can rig the elections again. The BVAS is the best thing that has happened to the nation’s electoral system. Your vote is your power. Come out and exercise it on the election day”.
He, however, urged journalists to always be professional in their reportage of political activities adding, “you owe the society education, sensitization and mobilization because journalists are critical to our survival as a nation.”
The senatorial candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party, NNPP, for Anambra Central district, Mrs. Helen Mbakwe, who was a guest at the ceremony, promised to elevate the zone to an appreciable level if elected.
She said that she was driven by passion to do things positively different so as to bring succour to the people of her senatorial district.
She listed empowerment, educational support, youth and women engagement, as well as welfare schemes as part of her legislative agenda which she said would translate to employment opportunities, security, productivity at the grassroots level and excellence in education in the entire Anambra Central senatorial zone.
Mbakwe urged Nigerians to take their destinies into their hands and vote wisely during the elections, lamenting that some politicians were only after their own selfish interests.
“I’m going there to bring lots of succour to my district in Anambra Central. There are the aged which we leave behind at home and they need to be included in the scheme of things. There is also the issue of youths and we need to find something that will make those not employable to be employable.
“We need to change a lot of things in our educational system and also beef up some of the structures we have in our educational system so that children will have the desire to go to school. It is education that will change a lot of things going forward,” she said.
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