THE Justice, Development and Peace Commission (JDPC) of the Catholic Archdiocese of Ibadan, in a bid to ensure participation in the 2023 general election by all segments of the society, recently organised a workshop for people at the grass roots and People With Disabilities (PWDs).
The idea of the workshop, with the theme, Strengthening participation of grassroots and people with disabilities (PWDs) in the 2023 election n Ibadan, Oyo State, according to Mrs Adenike Ibitara of the JDPC, is to sensitise different sections of the society on those things expected of them in the build-up to the election and during the election in order to have a successful electoral process which will usher in a government duly elected by the majority of the people.
In the first lecture titled, “Counting the votes in 2020: What is Changing?” Mr Folahan Awoyemi, a lawyer, first appraised the general election of 2019, where he highlighted the positives and failures of that electoral process.
Mr Awoyemi particularly mentioned the mobilisation of the electorate through the media, especially private radio stations, which raised the awareness about the electoral process among those at the grassroots.
The lawyer said issues of card reader failure, vote buying and selling, negative roles of some security agencies, non-assent of the Electoral Act by the president at that particular period, among others contributed to the challenges faced during the electoral process.
He then added that a lot of things will change in the 2023 general election, especially with the signing of the Electoral Act 2022 by President Muhammadu Buhari on February 25.
He said most of the challenges faced in the last election will be tackled with the 2022 Electoral Act.
In the second lecture, the Head of Voter Education and Publicity of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Oyo State, Mrs Rosemary Alaba-Adeniyi, said the commission has embraced technology, which will make the forthcoming general election more easier than the previous elections.
She said the issue of card reader failure which was experienced during the last election had been tackled with a new device which the commission used for the Ekiti and Osun states governorship election.
She added that with the signing of the Electoral Act 2022, resulta at polling units would now be transmitted directly to the collation centres, thereby eliminating the risk of snatching of ballot boxes while in transit.
Speaking further, she said instances whereby a voter would have in his or her possession multiple voter cards was now in the past, as the new device can detect multiple cards and eliminate cases of over-voting.
On the participation in the election, Mrs Alaba-Adeniyi charged people with disabilities (PWDs) to go out and exercise their civic duty as officials of the commission at the polling units have been instructed to attend to them immediately.
In the final lecture, Mr Jide Bamgbose spoke on the need for PWDs to come together and mobilise for the election.
He said it is through the electoral process that citizens can elect a government that will change the country for the better, just as he added that distancing oneself from the electoral process is like contributing to the failure of the country.
Mr Bamgbose urged PWDs to use their strength to mobilise around them for participation in the forthcoming election.
He, however, lamented voter apathy as he cited the number of eligible voters and the total votes cast in the last governorship election in the state.
“This means that we all have a lot to do to mobilise people close to us to participate in the election so that we can all use our votes to bring about positive change in the country.”
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