Chairman of the Gombe State Independent Electoral Commission (GOSIEC), Alhaji Saidu Shehu Awak has assured the people of the State that they will experience a complete departure from the past as every vote will now be counted during the forthcoming Local Government polls.
The chairman was reacting to questions from Journalists shortly after he declared open a series of training workshops for different stakeholders preparatory to the December 19th Local Government elections in the State.
The trainings, expected to hold for Journalists, Civil Society Organization, People Living with Disabilities, women groups among others is organized by the European Centre for Elector support (ECES) in conjunction with GOSIEC
According to Mr. Awak, “this is a million naira question because past practice differ, present practice differ. We have no desire to make it impossible for our constituents to come out and vote”.
Asked about delivering election materials during the election, the Chairman said the Commission will not fail in delivering election materials adding, ” that is our job. So, we cannot deal with speculation, I’ll leave you to judge on that day”.
Earlier in his opening remarks, the Chairman said the Commission deliberately sought the ECES for the training to help improve on the electoral process.
He also thanked them for availing their services, which he said the Commission is committed in ensuring that what will be learned will be for the benefit of Gombe State.
In his goodwill message, Mr. Manji Wilson, Deputy Project Coordinator, European Centre for Electoral Process (ECES), said the Centre is partnering with the Commission through sequenced training to support the Commission’s efforts in delivering it’s mandate of conducting elections that will guarantee willful and broad base participation, inclusivity while projecting transparency and integrity of the process.
He said, “this training with the Gombe SIEC is the first time ECES is piloting a sequenced training for SIECs specifically customized to cover key thematic issues of electoral administration, conflict management, media and communications and bringing together election managers at the State level with important stakeholders including the media, marginalized groups (PWD), women groups and CSO’s to foster synergy and promote election integrity in the conduct of the LG elections.
The first training workshop involved members of the GOSIEC as well as it’s staff while the second day will involve Journalists.
