CR Council Election a Litmus Test for Ayade 2019~Egbara

By Adoga Stephen

The media activist, Egbara Emmanuel, has described the up Coming Cross river by-election holding soon as a measure of the preparedness of Ayade led government in collaboration with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct free, fair and transparent elections, and hence a litmus test for 2019.
He also called on Cross riverians to come out en masse and vote for the people Democratic party candidates in the by-election, Yala local government council Ogar Declan Genesis, describing him as “the right man for the job.”
In a statement issued in Lagos by his Media Assistant, Mr.Oyi Adoga, Egbara said in the light of the massive irregularities that always marr out council election, it was imperative for the INEC to get its acts right this time around so as to rekindle confidence in the state's electoral system.
Egbara said the conduct of credible polls was a democratic emergency, particularly as Cross riverians and petitioners have come to the painful conclusion that the courts and tribunals cannot be relied upon to redress matters of electoral fraud perpetrated during elections.
He, therefore, called on the Governor of Cross river state Prof.Benedict AYADE , to rise above board, and prove that the “Giant of parties does not have clay feet when it comes to electoral matters or that the PDP is incapable of meeting the minimum standards of credible elections.”
The statement reads in part: “The much-talked about Corruption Agenda must also transform the INEC and the reforms being trumpeted in government circles must reach INEC, and evidently so. Let votes count.
“Let neither INEC officials nor security agents become parties in this election. It is not too good that Cross River is giving electoral support to other States but cannot herself hold commendable polls. The INEC must move from rhetoric to performance.
"Ayade must take a cue from Ebonyi, and begin to discharge its political calculation as an impartial pilot of Cross River. It is less than wonderful that after every election, the INEC engages in self-congratulations, while other parties, save the supposed winners, head for court.
“And the state Government should also know that the acceptability of an electoral process or the stability of the polity does not lie in the intensity of the official propaganda or in militarization of the polity before and after elections; they depend on the free, fair, transparent and credible conduct of the exercise itself." He posited.