Kogi guber: INEC commitment to credible poll

Commissioner in charge of Planning, Monitoring and Strategy Committee of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Rhoda Gumus, has said the commission will do its possible best to actualise credible, transparent, and peaceful governorship election in Kogi.  
  
She said this in Lokoja, over the weekend, in her keynote at the Election Risk Management (ERM), Sensitisation Workshop organised for stakeholders ahead of Kogi election.
  
According to her, the purpose of the workshop is to create awareness, identify and discuss election risk factors with election security stakeholders, as well as Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and media and propose mitigation measures.
  
She maintained that no election is considered small because elections are complex undertakings, regardless of the environments where they take place, adding that Election Management Bodies (EMBs) face numerous risks in organising Presidential, National Assembly or state elections.

“These risks are linked to legal, operational, technical, political, security and other aspects of the electoral processes. The consequences of risk can be serious in well-established countries and those in transitional democracy.
  
“However, one way to address this problem is to empower those, who have immediate responsibility to prevent and mitigate election- related violence such as election management bodies, security sector agencies, among others,” she stressed.
  
Kogi, she added, has become one state to conduct an off- cycle governorship election as a result of judicial pronouncement. “However, there is history of violence-prone areas identified in previous years, and still trending, especially in conflict- affected communities which need close attention. 
  
She promised that despite the challenges, INEC would do its possible best to actualise credible and peaceful election, depending on the role all stakeholders would play in achieving the goal. 
  
In his welcome address, Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) for Kogi, Prof. Gabriel Longpet, said the workshop was expected to impact preparation, planning and execution of the programmes designed for the successful conduct of the election.