Ex-minister Gana, Ozekhome, Ilechukwu allay fears over 2023 polls

Dignitaries across the country converged on Abuja Friday to discuss and proffer the way forward on critical knotty issues as the country prepares for next year’s general elections.

Speaking at the 11th and 2022 Edition of TCWNNI Annual Lecture in Abuja with the theme; ‘2023 General Election Critical Success Agents,’ a former Minister of Information and former presidential aspirant of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Prof. Jerry Gana, said the only antidote to good election “is to have an independent umpire.”

Gana, the chairman of the occasion, said further that the electoral umpire “must be that body that is independent and not ruled and governed by anybody,” adding that “only that could guarantee a free, fair and credible polls come 2023.”

On the issue of PVC and eligible voters, Gana said, “If you are here and you don’t have your PVC, you are not a change agent.

“We must also have good voter education with the media and INEC playing critical roles.

“The formal process of collation, electronic transmission of results is also very key and must be looked into.”

In his presentation at the occasion, the convener, The Change We Need Nigeria Initiative, Dr. Cosmas Ilechukwu, cautioned that elections were not inherently a source of violence, but could “exacerbate political, ethnic, regional and religious tensions and spill into violence if not managed well.”

On the way forward, Ilechukwu who is the General Overseer of the Charismatic Renewal Ministries and national secretary, Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN), warned that the success of the 2023 elections “will depend on some critical agents like the electorate, INEC, security agents, political parties and their candidates, the electoral tribunals and courts, the federal government, the media and civil organisations, and ultimately God.”

In a brief remark, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Mike Ozekhome, noted that development “can only be achieved in a peaceful atmosphere.”