THREE groups, the Afenifere Renewal Group (ARG), Lagos chapter of the Niger Delta Nationalities Forum and the Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC), have urged Nigerians to come out tomorrow and vote in the presidential election like they did last week during the National Assembly election.They commended President Goodluck Jonathan for his seeming neutrality in the conduct of the National Assembly election and urged him to keep to his promises by ensuring that the remaining elections, particularly the presidential polls, are conducted in a violence-free environment.And in Port Harcourt, Rivers State capital, the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) wants the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to investigate the reported irregularities perpetrated by its officials during the National Assembly election in Rivers South-East Senatorial District.Spokesman of MOSOP, Bari-Ara Kpalap, said the groups monitors deployed in four Ogoni local councils of Khana, Gokana, Tai and Eleme, reported that the process was fraught with irregularities cum voters apathy while being peaceful.Kpalap said MOSOP was disappointed with the exit polls from Ogoni, as there existed a chasm between declared unit results and released final figures.We insist that the results are false and brazenly and illegally manipulated by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) with the active connivance of compromised INEC officials and the security forces.For instance, in Gokana Ward 6 with 10 election units, the total number of votes cast in the senatorial exercise was 451 of which the ACN scored 335 against PDPs 97 and the other parties shared the others. But announced results showed that the PDP won with 324 votes while ACN scored 323, making a total of 647 votes without even the figures of other parties. This is in excess of 196 votes.We are particularly worried that INEC officials and the security forces appallingly failed to demonstrate neutrality and flagrantly violated legal safeguards for the elections, including INEC rules.In a statement, ARG Publicity Secretary, Kunle Famoriyo, observed that the outcome of last weekends elections indicated that Nigeria is moving away from the do-or-die politics of the past and embracing true spirit of democracy.At a media conference in Lagos yesterday, Chairman, Niger Delta Nationalities Forum, Manijar Seigha, urged support for Jonathan because of his humility and love for the country.The National Coordinator, OPC, Gani Adams, charged President Jonathan not to relent on his efforts to ensure that Nigerian politicians no longer see politics as a do-or-die affair.Let me plead with the President to, as a matter of urgency, put in place structures that would prevent the kind of bombings in Suleja and Maiduguri. Such acts can take away all the gains of the past 12 years.
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