*cautions against misinformation, fake news
Centre for Transparency Advocacy (CTA) has charged voters in Edo State to come out enmasse on Saturday to vote for the candidates of their choice without fear of intimidation.
The election observer group urged the voters to desist and resist the temptation of vote selling to politicians.
CTA executive director, Faith Nwadishi gave the charged in Benin on Friday while declaring the organisation Situation Room for the Edo Governorship Election opened.
She also cautioned political parties not bring to bear inflammatory rhetoric that characterized the campaigns as such may lead to election violence which they will be made accountable for.
“We call on the political parties to ensure the sanctity of the elections,” she said .
She said, “While we appreciate the deployment of 35,000 police officials by the Nigeria Police Force, we urge the Police authorities to ensure an even distribution of the deployed men and officials across the urban and rural areas of Edo state. We also, call on other security agencies to do same.”
Nwadishi expressed concern that the run up to the election has been characterized by misinformation and disinformation, aimed at deceiving, misleading and causing political confusion.
He said, “To this end, we urge the citizens not to rely on or act on unverified information without finding out the authenticity from credible sources.”
She also implore citizens “to report any incident or infractions that may undermine the peaceful outcome of the election to the relevant authorities and CTA Situation Room”
She said CTA recruited and trained 50 election observers which will be deployed to the 18 local Government Areas of Edo state
