Source: Daily Trust
Coalition of women bodies under the auspices of the All Progressives Congress Action Group and Labour Party in Ekiti State have disagreed with the Inspector General of Police, Suleiman Abba, over his order that voters should go back home after casting their votes during the general elections.
The women said they would defy that order as after casting their votes on March 28 and April 11, they would wait to protect their votes.
They said this in Ado Ekiti at the weekend during a summit organised for APC women, which was also attended by the women wing of Labour Party, to drum up support for the Buhari/Osinbajo candidature.
Speaking on behalf of the women, former commissioners under the Fayemi-led government, Mrs Ronke Okunsanya and Mrs Bunmi Dipo-Salami , as well an APC woman leader, Mrs Modupe Ogundipe, commended the bravery of the women to stand against any form of rigging during the poll.
Executive Director, Women Advocate Research and Documentation Centre, Dr Abiola Akiyode-Afolabi, said there was no law in the land that precludes the electorate from standing-by and protecting their votes on the election day, and described the IGP's order as a mere opinion.
She recalled that election rigging had always been the cause of violence in the country since 1922, and urged women to constitute themselves into advocates of peace and ensure that they go out massively to vote on the election days.
She expressed dismay that some politicians have turned elections into a warfare saying it was rather disgraceful that Nigerians were relocating abroad just because of elections, which ought to be a civil matter.
A Labour Party Chieftain, Chief Remi Oguntuase, said Nigerians are tired of the Peoples Democratic Party's 16 years of "misrule", saying the Buhari/Osinbajo ticket would turn around the fortunes of the country.