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From Adanna Nnamani, Abuja
The National President of the Labour Party (LP), Barr Julius Abure, has urged party faithfuls to defend their votes on election day by serving as party agents.
A statement earlier released by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had shown that the LP nominated 176,200 polling unit agents. There are 176,606 polling units across the country where elections will be taking place. The LP nominated the least number of polling unit agents among the four foremost parties.
Speaking at a press briefing at the Party’s National Secretariat in Abuja on Wednesday, Abure appealed to supporters not to leave the responsibility of defending their votes to accredited agents alone.
He said: “I want to state clearly that all supporters of the LP and Peter Obi must realize that they are also agents of the party. It is your responsibility to defend your votes. The responsibility to act as polling unit agents should not be left for the party-accredited agents alone. We, therefore, expect that you will not only go to the polling units to cast your votes but that you will also defend your votes by acting as agents on election day. We appeal to you to be on standby and keep an eye on INEC officials, keep an eye on security agents and keep an eye even accredited party agents so that you can provide checks and balances on whatever is going to happen. And you have a responsibility to question and query any activities that you find will compromise the processes of this election. I, therefore, say that all our supporters are polling unit agents. You are one of those who will assist us to stand and defend our votes.
The Party’s Chairman further alerted of some unscrupulous persons in the Southeast who are going about threatening people not to come out to vote on election day. He encouraged Nigerians to ignore such threats and come out to vote in large numbers.
“We want to encourage people to come out en mass to vote wherever they are. Whether you are in the Southeast, SouthSouth, Southwest or even northeast. Come out and vote. It is a mere threat to instil fear. Secondly, we have received assurance from the security agents that they are on top of the matter to guarantee maximum security on election day.
“We have never had this opportunity where the political activities of a particular candidate are driven by the people. This is the very first time that the people will be having a say. This is the very first time that these people will be having a voice. We, therefore, urge that this opportunity must not be allowed to elude us. We must therefore take our destiny into our hands, realising the fact that opportunity lost may never be recovered. Nigerians must rise to the utmost occasion of ensuring that their dream of having a new Nigerian is achieved.” He stated.
