Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof.
Attahiru Jega, on Friday said the commission had taken
delivery of
additional 4.1 million Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs) for distribution to
registered voters.
Jega disclosed this while responding to
questions at the launch of “Mitigation of Violence in Election’’
organised by the International Foundation for Election System (IFES) in
Abuja.
“Yesterday alone we received additional 4.1 million PVCs which we have now sent to the field for distribution,“ he said.
He
said that the delivery of the additional PVCs gave the commission the
confidence that all cards would be made available for collection before
the end of January.
He assured that the commission was doing
everything possible to ensure that all cards were produced and
distributed before the February elections.
“So far, we have made
available for collection over 50 million of these cards out of about 68
million cards that have been produced.
“Over 30 million have been
collected but there are still millions that are out there for people to
collect and every day we are getting additional millions of cards to
distribute,’’ he said.
The chairman stressed that INEC was
committed to the implementation of the election time-table it released
in January, 2014, adding that the commission was aware of the importance
of a secured and violence-free elections.
“We are learning from ugly experience of 2011 and preparing much better than we did four years ago,’’ he said.
He
stressed that the launch of mitigation of violence in election by IFES
would complement INEC’s efforts in ensuring credible and violence-free
elections in the country.
The Country Director of IFES, Mr Shalva
Kipshidze, said given the history of electoral violence, it was
important to make additional efforts to prevent violence during the
February elections.
Kipshidze said that the mitigation project was
aimed at reducing the potential for outbreak of violence before, during
and after the elections.
“The overall objective of this urgent
support is to strengthen the architecture for peaceful discussion to
strengthen dialogue, negotiation, mediation and mitigation of issues
that are likely to lead to electoral violence,’’ he said.
European
Union First Secretary, Mr Alan Munday, said that the union was
committing one million Euros to the seven-month programme which began in
December, 2014.
Munday urged politicians to shun hate-speeches
and accept credible elections results or approach the courts when
dissatisfied with elections results.
“We in EU believe that
Nigeria can achieve violence-free elections, if political leaders decide
that it is what they want,“ Munday said.
Justice Zainab
Bulkachuwa, President of Court of Appeal, urged would-be losers and
winners of the February elections to accept the results in good faith.
“Any
aggrieved party should go to court where their grievances can be
properly addressed rather than resort to violence which may eventually
turn the country into chaotic situations,’’ he said.
Source:PM News
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