The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, says Saturday’s election would be free and fair,as the new monetary policy of the Federal Government has saved the process of vote buying.
The Head, of Voters Education, INEC Rivers State, Mark Osulo, said this on Monday in Port Harcourt at a National Roundtable on the Roadmap to a Credible and Violence Free 2023 General Elections organised by Equity International Initiative, EII.
According to him, the 2023 elections would hold without bags of money at the polling units.
He said: “I assure you that the election is going to be free and fair. There will be no vote buying. It is going in tandem with our plans with stakeholders.
“There will be no money to buy votes. We are going to experience an election without vote buying. There will be no money to buy votes.”
Contributing the Country Director of EII, Dr Chris Iyala, stated that the 2023 election is crucial to the survival of the nation, noting that the people are holding the INEC to its promise of a free, fair and credible election.
He said the roundtable was necessary to identify what makes up a free and credible election and ensure that the nation experiences the same in elections to come.
Iyala said: “This election is crucial. We are focusing on the credibility of the election. In 2019, we set election situation monitoring and we monitored election at 8000 units.
“We are holding INEC by their word on the statement that they will conduct a free and fair election. For the first time, we have witnessed how elections should be conducted especially with the Osun election.”
CHECKPOINTCHARLEY 