WSRN release on Edo Election
The Women’s Situation Room Nigeria (WSRN), commends the peaceful conduct of women and the electorate during the September 28 Edo gubernatorial election. The WSRN opened a Physical Situation in Benin City the Edo State capital at Protea Hotel on the 27th September 2016 for the elections. On the day of the election which was the 28th September 2016 we sent out female observers to various part of the state capital to observe the election process, and report back to the room cases of violence especially violence against women, but fortunately there were no such report within the state capital during the elections.
Reports from our observers and other voters on ground at the various polling stations showed that the elections were orderly and peaceful throughout the process of registration, voting, collation and counting at the various wards and local government levels. Also during the final collation at the INEC state headquarters, all parties present also maintained decorum and were peaceful. The candidate of the All progressive congress Mr. Godwin Nogheghase Obaseki was declared winner by the INEC State returning officer.
Although there were violent cases reported in a few polling centers, the Edo State gubernatorial elections was relatively free of violence.
The Women’s Situation Room Nigeria prior to the election took it upon herself to enlighten the women and youths of Edo State on their role and participation during the election. This was done through a radio program that was aired by Bronze FM (101.5). the program which ran for a week with a theme”Women Building Resilient Society”
The program was used a medium to tell the women and make them aware of their importance in the electoral process, and how their involvement can help reduce electoral violence.
The program was also used to encourage the youth to be peaceful before, during and after the gubernatorial election.
The program was a success, this was shown by the response we got from both men and women who called in to pledge their support for a peaceful election.
