With days to March 18 governorship elections, Senator Bassey Otu has asked security agents to allow voters to locate their polling units.
He made this call during an interview on Roadmap 2023, a pre-recorded programme on Channels Television that highlights election issues and tracks personalities.
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Otu, the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Cross River State, said while ensuring security is important, getting appropriate voter turnout is equally important.
He explained that the one-week postponement of the Governorship and State House of Assembly elections provides the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) with the opportunity to work on removing the glitches recorded in the February 25 presidential and National Assembly elections.
“My belief is that the security blockades were necessary to ensure that there is peace. But I think the personnel that are mounting these roadblocks must tone down in terms of trying to make sure that people get to their location of voting,” he stated.
“If you look at probably the Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs), you will know a particular citizen is going to vote, he should be allowed to access his area of voting so that he can be able to exercise his franchise.
“I want to also believe that probably because of the fear of the unknown, they were very stern and still. But moving forward, their bosses/Commanders should be able to let them know that the actual exercise will be affected if people are not allowed to go to their polling units.”
The Governorship/Assembly polls were initially scheduled for March 11 but were postponed by the electoral body to give INEC adequate timing to reconfigure the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS).
For the full interview with Senator Otu, do watch Roadmap 2023 on Monday, March 13 on Channels TV.
