Why 2023 Election will be Impossible to Rig – Ex-REC

By Praise Chinecherem

Immediate past Resident Electoral Commissioner of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Imo State, Prof. Emeka Ezeonu has declared that the 2023 elections cannot be rigged.

He said the Electoral Law as amended makes it impossible for election to be rigged.

Ezeonu spoke in Awka during the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) Anambra State Council End of Year Party, Christmas Celebration and Installation of new Patrons ceremony by the Comrade Odogwu Emeka Odogwu-led executive.

He said the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System, BVAS and the electronic transfer of result were two measures taken to secure the integrity of the ballot.

Ezeonu urged Nigerians to get their Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs) and perform their civic responsibility next year.

He said, “The 2023 general elections cannot be rigged. You can take it to the bank. BVAS approval has tightened the loopholes in card readers, making the electorate more confident that their votes would count.

“I urge Nigerians to come out enmass to vote for candidates of their choice. 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”.

Ezeoonu, who was the chairman of the occasion, further urged journalists to always be professional in their reportage.

“The media should be alive to its responsibilities at this critical time of the nation’s electoral history. You owe the society education, sensitization and mobilization. Journalists are critical to our survival as a people”.

Also speaking, Senatorial Candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) for Anambra Central District, Barr. Princess Helen Mbakwe promised that her constituent would experience all benefits of representation as part of the new Nigeria project if elected.

She said she was driven by passion to do things positively different so as to bring succour to the people of her zone.

She outlined 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 when elected.

She urged the electorate to utilise the window of opportunity to collect their Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs), describing the task of creating a new Nigeria which her party represents as collective struggle for all Nigerians, regardless of party, ethnic or religious affiliation. 

She said, “Nigerians must take their destinies into their hands and vote wisely during the elections so as to elect people with their interests at heart and not money bagged politicians who are only after their own selfish interests.

“You need to do new things to see new things happen. I’m just one person just like every other person but I want to go and see what I can do to see that Nigerian is made anew. It is a tall order I know but we shall succeed.

“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; they need to be included in the government. There is the youths, several cadres of them, the employable and the unemployable. The unemployable, we need to find something to channel them unto something that will make them employable.

“School system has changed now that it is no more what it used to be when we were schooling. 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. We also need to care for the physically challenged people because they need to be included in this country. There are the mothers also who fight lots of battles to have their head high. We need to give the mothers opportunities by empowering them and making them stay empowered.

“Under my stewardship, come 2023 and beyond, Anambra Central will look forward to households and individuals feeling the impact of a new Nigeria. They will have relief and welfare to make them relax a little from where we are coming from and from the dream we have going forward.”

Earlier, Chairman of the Anambra NUJ, Dr Odogwu Emeka Odogwu had urged media practitioners to remain the conscience and moral parameter of the society. 

“Be careful with friendship. As journalists, you must know where to draw line of friendship because your friendship must not undermine the performance of your job,” he stressed.

Highpoint of the event was the presentation of the 2022 Professor Stella Okunna Award for Ethical Journalism, which was won by Alfred Ajayi of Radio Nigeria Purity FM Awka.  

The benefactor, Prof. Okunna,first female Professor of Mass Communication in Sub-Saharan Africa said she initiated it out of her love and passion for ethics and to encourage media professionals to value ethics which she described as everything in journalism. 

Responding to the award, the winner, Alfred Ajayi, described the feat as a dream come through. 

“It’s a long journey. It teaches me that there is time for everything. It’s my turn today and I give God the glory”.

“I particularly value this because it is coming from my own constituency, the NUJ. It’s a fulfilment of a dream,” he noted.