Yemisi Izuora
The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has confirmed that Lagos has now recorded over 6.5million voters after the continuous voters registration exercise.
The Head, Voter Education and Publicity, Lagos State, Mrs Ijeoma Okey-Igbokwe made the disclosure at the maiden edition of the 2019 public lecture on good governance organised by the Catholic Archdiocese of Lagos, themed: The power of the electorate in a democracy: Nigeria as a case study.
Speaking on the relevance of the electorate in the voting process, Igbokwe said that the power of the electorate in an election cannot be over-emphasised and with 8,642 polling units and 245 Registration areas in Lagos, she assured that INEC would ensure violence free elections.
She cautioned against vote buying. “If you do not sell your vote there will be no case of vote buying. It is you the electorate that decide whether or not there will be vote buying”, she said.
Other participants who spoke at the forum attributed security and the judicial system as some of the challenges undermining the powers of the electorate and called on INEC to ensure a credible, free and fair election devoid of violence.
The event had the PDP, Lagos Gubernatorial Candidate, Jimi Agbaje; Prof Pat Utomi; Cardinal Okogie others in attendance.