Why we rescheduled our election – GONET

The Gombe Network of Civil Society Organisations (GONET), on Saturday, said it had rescheduled its general executive election, which was initially scheduled to hold on December 21 for January 9.

Mr Yahaya Atiku, the election committee chairman, while speaking in Gombe on Saturday said the decision to reschedule the election for January 9 was to ensure compliance with the provisions of the constitution.

Atiku said the organisation had been led by an interim caretaker committee for the past six months, stressing the need for election.

He noted that in view of the need to have an election to usher in a substantive executive, more than half of the members unanimously decided that the current interim leadership should continue, given that the organisation was still in its early stages.

However, Atiku said that the decision was deemed constitutionally incorrect, as an interim administration should only last for six months.

“As a result, the 17 members present unanimously agreed to allow the interim committee to continue, with a two-week window period (December 21 to January 9, 2025) for them to fill out forms and pay fees to formalise their roles.

“The organisation will then affirm the interim committee as the full executive committee on January 9, 2025, pending no objections from members.”

Atiku said it was important for members to carry out its decision-making process, in a transparent, accountable, and inclusive manner, as this he said would mitigate grievances that often follow election processes and outcomes.

“However, unfortunately more than half of the members were of the opinion that since it’s a ‘baby organisation’ this present interim leadership should continue in full capacity as the exco but constitutionally. We said it’s not correct because if it’s an interim administration it has to be six months.

“We don’t want anyone to be offended we want to carry everybody along; we want to do things differently, we don’t want to deceive anybody we want to be as transparent as possible.

“We are accountable to ourselves, God and society that is why we have given this room for opinions for grievances to be sorted out so that everyone will be carried along and grievances sorted out,” Atiku noted.

Commenting further Atiku noted that the current leadership especially the Chairman, Yusuf Ibrahim, was compelled to participate in order to nurture the organisation before relinquishing his position as chairman.