“2023 Gubernatorial Polls, a Reflection of Our Society”, Says Hamzat Lawal
FCT, Abuja - The executive director of Connected Development (CODE), Hamzat Lawal, has described the ongoing gubernatorial polls as a reflection of Nigerian society and called for redress across all sectors.
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He made this known in Abuja during the mid-day election report press briefing on Saturday, March 18.
Source: Twitter
When asked by Legit.ng if civil society groups in Nigeria were compromised due to their unusual softness to the issues of electoral fraud and violation of the Electoral Act, Lawal said:
"Let's be fair and even look at the general society, the political society, the media society, the civil society, organised private sector, the judicial society, have we not all compromised in our values and standard, as a people and as a society."
He noted that there is a need to hold electoral stakeholders to account, especially the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and bring the violators of the Electoral Act to book for their shortcomings.
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Meanwhile, during the presentation of the mid-day election report by CODE, it was gathered that the gubernatorial polls in some states were marred by electoral violence and other electoral anomalies.
During the presentation of the report, Lawal referred to Lagos state and Ebonyi state as areas where electoral violence was perpetrated.
He said:
"For example, in Ebonyi State, one of our own, an accredited Uzabe field observer, Uzodimma Lucy Ogodo was brutally attacked for refusing to vote for a particular party. This is unacceptable and against the tenets of democracy which we strive so hard to maintain as a nation.
"In Lagos State, Ojo/Iba LCDA Local Govt Area, Polling unit: Princess Eneni Street, Victory Estate, Polling unit code: 091, was attacked by party hoodlums.
"In fact, the pregnant wife of our Lagos State Lead was attacked and is currently recuperating. We will not relent until justice is served."
As gathered by Legit.ng, Connected Development's report is an accumulation of data received from its well-trained 20,000 observers deployed across all the polling units in the 36 states of the federation.
Source: Legit.ng
