By Olasunkanmi Akoni

_jalingo—Two human  rights groups, Option Without Borders, OWB, and Citizens Rights Campaign, CRC, have expressed satisfaction over the level of political enlightenment at the grassroots in Taraba State towards having credible 2015 general elections in the state.

The groups made the remarks after conducting an enlightenment campaign for the electorate, aimed at deepening electoral education among the rural folks, ahead of the 2015 general elections.

In a campaign aimed at testing electorate knowledge of the five politicians contesting for the gubernatorial seat from Southern Taraba next year, OWB Director, Mr. Onome Richard, and the CRC Director, Mr. Kehinde Balogun, noted with satisfaction that market women, artisans, students, farmers, civil servants and the unemployed across all villages and towns in the state showed that majority of the people were conversant with their rights and obligations at the polls.

“Though we set out to drum more political awareness for the forthcoming polls, we met in Southern Taraba, a people determined to produce a candidate that can sell across the three senatorial divides in the state,” the groups stated.

“In a sample poll carried out among 520,000 respondents which asked a simple question to pick a name among the five leading politicians gunning for the office, which is billed to be filled by the zone, the current Minister for Niger Delta Affairs and a major contender, Mr. Darius Ishaku, polled 81,000 votes, while a Senator representing the Southern Taraba, Emmanuel Bwatcha got 75,000 votes.

“Current Chairman of the Nigeria Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA, Lt-Gen. Agbu Kefas (rtd), got 7,000 votes, while the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Finance Mr. Danladi Kifasi got 112,000 votes, while the former Director of Finance and Administration in the National Assembly and a prominent Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, chieftain, Chief David Sabo Kente polled 221,000 votes,” the groups said.

Similarly, the Jukun Development Association, JDA, said in another opinion poll carried out on its facebook.com page, which sampled 256,000 respondents, that 135,000 JDA facebook friends voted for Chief David Sabo Kente, with 42,000 voting for Mr. Danladi Kifasi, 28,000 goes to the Minister for Niger Delta Affairs, Mr. Darius Ishaku, while the NIMASA boss Lt-Gen. Kefas and Senator Bwatcha got 25,510 and 12, 226 votes respectively.