According to Agboke, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) considered improvement in the Kogi, Bayelsa November elections as well as that of Ondo and Edo in the year 2020 e will be critical because they will point to the manner of the election that the commission will deliver in the 2023 general election.
Agboke stated this at an event organised by the Oyo state office of the National Orientation Agency (NOA), Ibadan to commemorate this year’s International Day of Peace, held at NOA headquarters in Ibadan.
Speaking, Agboke gave the assurance that INEC having taken nationwide stock of its challenges in logistics, the efficacy of its equipment, materials, recruitment pattern was poised to deliver a better and more peaceful election in 2023.
While urging security agencies to stick to their mandate to protect materials and personnel, Agboke said the commission targeted delivering an election where no one is intimidated and one where Nigerians are rest assured that their votes cast will be count and not manipulated.
“Since the conclusion of the 2019 election, we started evaluating through a series of workshops, state by state assessment and centralised assessment. We have seen where we got it wrong, what we did not do at all.
“Before 2023, we are going to have off-season elections in Kogi, Bayelsa in November and in Ondo and Edo next year. Our performances in these elections are what will be used to determine what will happen in the 2023 election.
” Our expectation is that some of the inadequacies we have looked at will be corrected in the off-season elections. Our outing in those elections will be better and in 2023, Nigeria will witness a more peaceful election that that of 2019,” Agboke said.
Speaking further, he beckoned on agencies of government to increase their utilisation of the NOA for information dissemination, enlightenment.
Oyo state director, NOA, Mrs Dolapo Dosumu, in her remarks, stressed the importance of justice reigning in the nation, at all levels, for peace to be guaranteed.
Noting that peace was key to the nation experiencing development, Dosumu tasked all Nigerians to be involved in the fight against insecurity.
“In Nigeria, as a people, we have been battling with the issue of insurgencies, ethnic clashes, militancy and one form of unwarranted unrest or the other that keeps rocking the boat of our oneness and national cohesion. Unfortunately, the perpetrators of these dastardly acts never reckon with the fact that if our country strays, we still own it.
“We will not stop drumming it into the hearings of the people, especially those who are not towing the path of peace that the only chord that binds a nation together in peace.
“The highest end of human good comes with peace. Peace should be a norm in order to keep pace with global development and enhance local food security. Also, we should fight insecurity to a standstill thus accelerate development at all spheres,” Dosumu said.