.To train 300 observers with N12m
The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) yesterday faulted the conduct of the last two governorship elections in the country, stating that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) should cancel the elections held in Ekiti and Osun states, just as it would monitor the 2019 election to ensure credible exercise. Speaking yesterday at a roundtable conference between CAN and Legacy Initiative International in Lagos, the President of the Association, Reverend Supo Ayokunle, said since the reports of the International observers and monitors declared the election was not credible, the Independent National Electoral Commission should do the needful by declaring it canceled.
He said: “Presently Nigeria is a sleeping nation; it is creeping but the Lord can make the cripple to walk with God on our side we know that Nigeria is going to rise above all her challenge. “What we saw in the past states government elections are not good at all; there were cases of vote buying, intimidation of voters by the security agents, complaints that political party of INEC officials was used even to the extent that International observers and monitors made declared that the election was not credible, what should INEC do, they should set the election aside and go back to the drawing board. “We have gone to the INEC to register CAN as election monitors, so we are going to put three people in each polling booth to monitor the election.
This movement is going to cost N12 million to train 300 people, 50 in each geo-political zones those fifty will train the people that will give us three people in each polling booth and a head of judge has paid for it.” CAN president also condemned how the Eastern part of the country was left out in the federal government appointment, saying no region has the right to have more people in government than the other. “We need mutual respect for one another. We need to make the law enforcement and security agencies not to be objective and independent. If there is no justice, there would be hatred. We are stakeholders in Nigeria, the politicians are not better stakeholders than us and it is their duty to listen to those who elected them. No region has the right to have more people in government than the other.
An appointment where a state is having 35 is given federal opportunity to serve and in the East, two people were only considered, do you think that that region would have a sense of belonging, people don’t just agitate it is when they are not treated with respect that they cry, we must be able to manage our complexity.” Speaking earlier, the Grand Patron of Legacy Initiative, Dr. Kenny Martins, informed that the two bodies (CAN and Legacy) said would meet with other Muslim faithful in the country to draw a template of the minimum expectations of the inter-faith community from those vying for elections into public offices and agree on the best suitable candidates for each of the offices. “Where a candidate has gotten elected into public office based on the intervention of the inter0faith community but failed to live up to expectations, CAN and Legacy would support the recall of such official by the constituents and would not support such candidate in any future election.”