Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja
The All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council Directorate of Contact and Mobilisation, has charged Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and Election Observers to ensure effective monitoring of the electoral process ahead of the rescheduled elections.
The Director of Mobilisation in the APC campaign council, Hajia Hadiza Bala-Usman, who spoke to journalists yesterday in Abuja when she visited the YAGA Election Situation Room, said that the party is keen on having a free and fair poll.
“As I mentioned earlier, we are keen to have a transparent, free and fair election; so, we encourage observers, and we encourage any form of interrogation of the process.
“I am here today to lend to the voice of the APC to show encouragement to CSOs, to encourage them to ensure that whatever is happening at the polling unit are highlighted for the world to see,” she said.
Hadiza Usman charged the CSOs and observer groups to ensure that whatever incidences happened at the polling stations are brought to the attention of relevant agencies for them to take action.
She said being vigilant at polling units was necessary to ensure free, fair and credible elections.
She said the directorate is looking forward to INEC to brief Nigerians daily on its preparations for the elections and to ensure that materials were deployed to the right places and at the right time.
On whether APC is ready to accept any further postponement of elections, Bala-Usman, said, “INEC is the umpire; it will tell us whether there will be further postponement of the elections. But as a party, we are ready for the election on Saturday, February 23”.
She charged security agencies to step up their games and to provide necessary support and security to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), especially to places it needed to deploy materials.
She added that as Nigerians were coming to terms with the postponement of the presidential and National Assembly elections to February 23, INEC should ensure that the elections was not postponed again.
She stressed the need for functional pre-election situation rooms, adding that political parties and CSO should put their spotlight on INEC to monitor the movement of election materials.
