By Politicsgovernance.com
The National Independent Electoral Commission, INEC, Delta state has inaugurated a four-man executive with veteran Journalist, Comrade Festus Ahon of the Vanguard Newspaper to head the INEC Press Corps in the state.
Comrade Festus Ahon was inaugurated along side with, Oghenero Eghweree of Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN), Secretary; Ijeoma Okafor of National Television Authority (NTA) Asaba, Treasurer while Austin Oyibode, the Publisher of Emerald online news platform will serve as the Publicity Secretary.
INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner in Delta, Rev. Monday Udoh disclosed this on Wednesday, October 19, 2022, during the inauguration of the executive of INEC Press Corps (IPC) at the INEC Conference Hall in Asaba, the state capital.
According to Udoh, “Over 300,000 uncollected Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs) are currently lying in the offices of the Commission in the 25 Local Government Areas of Delta State.
While lamenting the poor collection of PVCs by registrants Udoh appealed to “IPC to join hands with the Commission to ensure that, registrants come forward to collect their Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs), which is still on-going at the respective LGA offices of INEC.
“IPC should engage the political parties, who are the beneficiaries of the PVCs to be actively involved in encouraging and mobilizing their supporters to collect their PVCs.
INEC reveals when PVCs will be ready
“At the moment, the Commission carried over 244,715 uncollected PVCs from the 2019 general elections, while it has so far received about 69,946 PVCs, for those who registered between June –December 2021 and 17,000 transfer PVCs, bringing 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.
“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 Sensitization, which has so far taken us to the State House of Assembly.”
He congratulated the Executive and members of the INEC Press Corps, Delta State, describing the unveiling as a very important addition to the interface between the Commission and its gamut of stakeholders.
The Delta INEC REC explained that the Press Corps, “came about through the time-honoured democratic principle of free choice, devoid of acrimony and inconclusive election,” adding that the IPC has passed the litmus test of democratic franchise.
“As you may be aware, the Commission has stepped up its activities towards the conduct of the 2023 General Election, for which nine-item, out of fourteen items has so far been attained in its timetable and schedule of activities for the 2023 General Elections.
“The inauguration of the INEC Press Corps marks members’ “induction into the Commission’s value chain of stakeholder engagement matrix in Delta State, which demonstrates the commitment of the State Management of INEC 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 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.
“As a follow-up to the advocacy to the State House of Assembly, the Commission has drawn up a work plan and engagement matrix in the following order;
“Meeting with Chairmen/ Secretaries /Governorship candidates of political parties/ Heads of security agencies/ religious organizations and CSOs on Thursday, October 20, 2022.
“Meeting with Senatorial/ House of Reps/ State House of Assembly candidates/ Serving /former members of National and State Houses of Assembly/ Serving and former LGC chairmen/ political party leaders at both Senatorial/ LGA levels, in Delta South ( October 25, at Oleh) Delta Central ( October 26, at Ughelli) and Delta North( October 27, at Asaba, INEC State head office).”
