Posted by The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the people of the state have received praise from thirteen observation groups that followed the recently concluded Bayelsa State Governorship Election for the relatively peaceful conduct of the process.
They underlined that INEC had skillfully organized the logistics of delivering election materials, both sensitive and non-sensitive, to the various polling locations, making sure the materials arrived on schedule, and making use of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS).
The Coalition of the INEC Accredited Observer Groups for Credible and Transparent Elections, which represents the observer groups, commended the people of Bayelsa State for their nonviolent behavior before, during, and after the most recent election in the state, during a press conference held in the state capital on Wednesday.
After reading the coalition’s recommendation, Romanus Agu, the chairman of the coalition, was accompanied by Sani Bashir, the secretary, and other coalition members. He stated that political stakeholders should either commit to and uphold the peace accord that has been unanimously endorsed or seek redress in court and follow the rulings of the legal proceedings.
In order to reduce voter apathy, they also asked INEC, political parties, and other stakeholders to raise voter awareness and enlightenment.
“On November 14, 2023, we, the coalition of INEC-accredited observer groups for credible and transparent elections, wish to express our opinions on one of the recently concluded off-cycle elections in Bayelsa state,” the statement read.
“We assigned 235 observers to each of the eight local government districts, and they all directly reported to our situation room. The observation groups followed INEC’s rules for election observers as well as Nigerian laws when conducting their operations.