…Emir of Kano cautions politicians against hate speeches, political thuggery
The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Resident Electoral Commissioner in Kano State, Ambassador Zango Abdu on Tuesday said about 60 per cent of the Permanent Voters Cards, PVCs were yet to be collected in the state.
The Commissioner disclosed this during a Peace Pavilion 023.1 organized by the Savannah Centre for Diplomacy, Democracy and Development, SCDDD in collaboration with the Community Initiatives to Promote Peace, CIPP for the various political parties gubernatorial candidates in Kano ahead of the forthcoming election.
Amb. Abdu represented by the Head of Department, Voter Education and Public Relations Officer, A. A. Maulud simply puts number of PVC collected in the state at 40 per cent while calling for concerted efforts by all stakeholders to ensure the electorates come out enmasse to collect their PVCs in order to exercise their civic responsibility.
According to him, “As at the end of Continuous Voters Registration, CVR exercise, Kano State has 569,108 eligible voters who were registered in the state.
“Permanent Voters Cards, PVCs delivered to the state stood at over 511,000. As at 3rd January, 2023, so far, 180,017 PVCs representing 40 per cent were collected. We have to do the needful. We appeal to all stakeholders to assist INEC to call on the electorates to come and collect their PVCs.
“The commission has extended the distribution of the PVC to the Registration Areas. Afterwards, it will be reverted to the Local Government Areas offices of INEC from 23rd to 29th January, 2023,” he said.
The electoral umpire, however, appealed to the politicians on the need to carryout or focus on issued based campaign and play the game according to the rules guiding the conduct of the elections.
Declaring the event open, the Emir of Kano, Aminu Ado Bayero also cautioned politicians in the state against unguarded utterances and hate speeches capable of causing public incitement.
Besides, the Monarch represented by the Fagacin Kano, Habibu Dankade also called on the politicians to shun use of thugs during their rallies and campaigns in order to avoid breakdown of law and order in the state.
“Without peace there is no progress. We urge the politicians to give the INEC and security agencies maximum cooperation to achieve the desired outcomes. We appeal to them to desist from hate speeches during the campaigns capable of public incitement.
“The politicians are also called to shun use of thugs during their rallies and campaigns to attack opponents and other parties and the people that is capable of formenting trouble,” the Emir stated.
The organizer of the event and Executive Director, Savannah Centre for Diplomacy, Democracy and Development, SCDDD, Amb. Sani Bala described the event as apt and aimed at reminding the politicians of the consequences of election malpractices and violence among others as clearly spelt out by the Electoral Act 2022.
Meanwhile, the gubernatorial candidates from the various political parties pledged to a peaceful elections in the state.