Primaries: KOWA Party adopts online voting, exam writing

The KOWA Party on Saturday said it adopted the use of online voting and examination writing for its primary election to boost participation, promote internal democracy and ensure credibility.
Dr Abimbola Oyedokun, Chairman, KOWA Lagos State siad during the party’s primaries in Lagos, that online voting was adopted to promote direct primaries.
Oyedokun urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to adopt online voting for accurate,  fair,  credible,  effective and conclusive elections in the country.
”For democracy to be sound, voting should be anchored on election free from fraud.
“Over the years, the voting operation has been put under a manual system of operation, which mostly results in inaccuracy and ineffective election.
“It is gradually being realised that much faster accurate, effective and efficient system need to be adopted.
“Delegates across the 36 states have started voting online since 8a.m and voting stops at 2p.m. it is easy, accessible and cost effective.
“INEC can adopt same to develop our electoral process,” he said.
Oyedokun said that two out of the three presidential aspirants of the party were produced by the KOWA Lagos and they are Dr Sina Fagbenro-Byron and Dr Ayobo Lijadu.
He said that the third aspirant was Prof. Remi Sonaiya who was the party’s flag bearer in 2015 presidential election.
According to him, the presidential aspirants on Friday, sat for a written examination set by the party to assess their intellectual grasp of the challenges rocking the nation ahead of the 2019 elections.
The written examination also served as screening of aspirants.
On the state primary, five candidates emerged after delegates overwhelmingly endorsed them in a ‘Yes or No’ vote of the 231 delegates in the state.
Three candidates emerged for the Lagos State House of Assembly – Mr Ikpomwosa Olotu for Eti-Osa constituency 1, Mr Abang Emenyi for Mainland Constituency 1  and Mr Akan Imoh, Ikeja Constituency 2.
While two candidates emerged for the House of Representatives – Mr Siraj Adebakin for Mushin Constituency 2 and Mr Tokunboh Akinbiyi, Kosofe constituency.
Oyedokun said that all the candidates were unopposed as the party was satisfied with their abilities to impact on governance.
“We are confident that these candidates will deliver because we are focusing on the grassroots and based on our overall strategy, our candidates will be victorious in 2019, ” he said.
The process for picking candidates was monitored by four INEC officials.