‎The Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) of Akwa Ibom, Mr Obo Effanga has declared that he is not in the state to do any government bidding in the forthcoming elections.

‎Effanga disclosed this during a meeting with the Akwa Ibom Rights Community (AKHRC) and the Association of Traditional Birth Attendants (TBA) over the weekend in Uyo.

‎Dispelling possibility of biases against any political party in the upcoming general elections, he said "I can assure you that I took an oath of office based on the constitution. My oath of office is to Nigerians as a corporate entity, not any government."

‎"I am appointed to do what is right for the Nigerian people based on what the constitution, electoral act, and guidelines say. My work is to ensure that everybody is given a franchise in the election.

‎"I expect everyone who comes to the elections to conduct themselves credibly. A lot of the problems we have during elections occur when political parties manipulate even their internal elections. INEC doesn't own an election; anyone involved at any stage should do the right thing."

‎Effanga stated that looking critically at Nigeria’s electoral processes from the 1979 general elections to the 2023 polls, one would agree that elections has significantly improved in the country with the deployment of technology.

‎"The technology we have in Nigeria is far ahead of what you can find in many other places. How many places in the world have technology like BVAS, IREVP?"

‎On the issue of e-voting he said, "First of all, how many countries in the world use electronic voting?. There is no democracy in the world that votes electronically."

‎"In the US, there are people who voted with paper ballots. So there's a mixture of paper ballots and other methods. If somebody says it is electronic voting, it suggests that you can sit in the comfort of your home to vote. 

‎On his part, the Convener of  AKHRC, Barr. Clifford Thomas commend the the REC for enlightening the TBA group about the electoral processes.

‎He expressed optimism that such information would help all the women making up the group to make well-informed decisions during election time.

‎Thomas stressed the need of deepening voter education and citizen participation ahead of the next electoral cycle, noting that early engagement remains critical to building public trust in the process.