2023 Elections: NOA meets traditional, religious leaders, holds dialogue with media in Kano

The Director General of the National Orientation Agency (NOA), Dr. Garba Abari, has urged Nigerians to refrain from acts of violence during the upcoming 18th Governorship and State Houses Assembly elections.

Speaking at the Northwest zonal engagement with the media, Dr. Abari emphasized that there is life after elections and called on citizens to shun election violence and thuggery in order to move the country forward.

Dr. Abari revealed that the NOA has organized a series of interventions to ensure a peaceful election, including a political parties summit on peace-building, media engagements on sensitive reporting, and advocacy visits to traditional and religious leaders.

The agency has also mobilized community mobilization officers across all 774 local government areas in the country to educate citizens on the need for a violent-free election.

The director general stressed that the NOA’s messages were focused on issues such as massive voter registration, peaceful election, inclusion of women and people with special needs, PVCs collection, new electoral act, electoral anti-corruption, and removing voter apathy. He also highlighted that the agency has sent out jingles to traditional institutions, religious leaders, pressure groups, and all relevant stakeholders to advocate for peaceful elections.

Dr. Abari noted that the NOA has collaborated with relevant stakeholders to create a whistle-blowing platform to expose electoral corruption, in addition to sensitization campaigns against vote buying and selling through social media platforms.

He acknowledged that the 2023 presidential election and national assembly election were characterized by delayed commencement of voting and late arrival of election materials in some polling units.

The director general recognized journalists as partners in progress and called for frequent engagements with the media to promote democracy by educating the public on how to vote and avoid apathy.

Before the media dialogue, Dr Abari meet with the emir of Kano Alhaji Aminu Ado Bayero as well as council of ulama and the Christian association on Nigeria with the message of peace.

He reiterated the agency’s commitment to ensuring awareness of voter education in both urban and rural areas.