THE Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has advised women in Cross River to reject money and other items such as rice and food seasoning from politicians who used them as inducements.

The Resident Electoral Commissioner in the state, Dr Frankland Briyai, gave the advice on at a town hall meeting organised by INEC in conjunction with some gender-focused civil society organisations in Calabar on Friday.

Briyai, who was represented by the Head of Voter Education and Publicity (VEP), Mr Inyang Ikpeme, said that inducement of voters at the polling booths was part of vote buying.

“Please do not sell your votes. Do not accept rice, maggi cubes, tomatoes and even money because that is part of vote buying.

“Do not sell your conscience; by collecting these items you have sold your vote for four years, ‘’ he said.

According to him, INEC is doing everything possible to discourage vote buying during the election.

He also advised the women to educate their children on the need to shun violence during the election.

“We should sensitise our children to shun violence and any form of social vices during and after the election. If anything happens to them, you are the one to bear the pains,” he said.

He said the town-hall meeting was part of the measures taken by the commission to sensitise women of the state on the need for them to participate in the electoral process.

Briyaie added that women were critical stakeholders in the electoral process hence the need to sensitise them on their role during the exercise.

In her paper titled: “Women Participation and the 2019 General Election: Rationale and Challenges,” Mrs Tammie Kamonke described women as the pillar of election in Nigeria.

Kamonke, who is a gender expert, stressed the need for women to go beyond voting and become active leaders in the political circle.

“Women should go beyond mere voting in elections; they should aspire to political offices. Who said women cannot be governors or even presidents?

“With our numerical strength as women in Nigeria, we can achieve anything. We only need to change our mentality and our attitude,” she said.

She lamented that women in Nigeria had been long underrepresented in the political settings.

“Women should stand to be counted. With 39 million votes, we can determine who goes where both in our state and in Nigeria,” she added.(NAN)

– Feb. 8, 2019 @ 19:21 GMT |