INEC Encourages Media To Help Political Parties Mobilize Supporters 

He stated that the IPC should aggressively include the political parties that stand to gain from the PVCs in motivating and pushing their followers to turn in their PVCs.

By Omotayo Olutekunbi

In order to ensure that registrants show up to pick up their Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs), which is still happening at the respective local government area offices of the commission, Monday Tom, the resident electoral commissioner (REC) of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Delta State, has made a call to the media.

A new executive of the INEC Delta Press Corps (IPC), led by Festus Ahon, was inaugurated when he made the appeal.

He stated that the IPC should aggressively include the political parties that stand to gain from the PVCs in motivating and pushing their followers to turn in their PVCs.

He said that the commission now had 244,715 uncollected PVCs from the 2019 general elections and that it had also received 17,000 transfer PVCs in addition to the 69,946 PVCs it had already received for voters who registered between June and December 2021.

“This brings the stock of PVCs held by the commission, at the moment, to well over 300,000 cards lying in the Commission’s 25 LGA offices in the state,” he revealed.

According to him, “The Commission expects that, by the end of November, we will receive more PVCs, hence our desire to embark on aggressive mobilization of registrants to collect their PVCs, through the PVC Collection/Political Campaigns Sensitisation, which has so far taken us to the State House of Assembly.”

The unveiling, he said, was a crucial improvement to the contact between the commission and its range of stakeholders. He complimented the new executive and members of the press corps.

As you may be aware, the Commission has intensified its efforts in preparation for the holding of the 2023 General Election, for which nine of the fourteen items on its to-do list for the elections have already been completed.

“Your induction into the Commission’s value chain of stakeholder engagement matrix in Delta State, therefore, testifies to the commitment of the State Management of INEC here in the state to replicate what is happening at the national level, where an IPC already exists for over a decade to translate the gains of the robust relationship between the Commission and the media, which will ultimately benefit the electoral process in the state.

“It is significant to mention here that your induction at the state level will benefit the media, particularly in understanding the language and nuances of political reporting and by extension activities of INEC; more so now that the Electoral Act 2022 has devoted a significant portion to what is expected of the media, in the political process, particularly sections 94 and 96 of the Act.

“Going forward, this new level of cooperation and understanding between the Commission and media in Delta State will hopefully lead to better information management, particularly in reporting with responsibility and not pandering to the whims and caprices of unscrupulous politicians.

“Let me also stress that in every relationship, even in marriages, partners are expected to be guided by a set of rules, which will ultimately lead to peace, harmony, and longevity of such relationship.

“On the part of the Commission, we here and now commit to respecting the desires of the media to access information about activities of the Commission in an open and timely manner, without undermining the Commission’s rules and regulations, particularly as it relates to its Communication Policy,” Tom assured

In his remarks, Bukola Ojeme, the department head for voter education and publicity, stated that the commission anticipated the IPC would improve the quality of reporting.

“It will help in the fight against fake news and other negative tendencies that could mar the electoral process,” he said.

In response, Festus Ahon, the recently appointed INEC Delta IPC chairman, said that the state’s press corps and journalists will do every effort to guarantee INEC runs a credible, free, fair, and secure election.