27th June, 2018
A Civil Society Organisation (CSO) Youth Initiative for Advocacy, Growth and Advancement (YIAGA) Africa, says it plans to deploy 500 observers to monitor the conduct of July 14, Ekiti gubernatorial election.
The Executive Director, of the organisation, Mr Samson Itodo told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Wednesday, that the observers would be deployed to 250 sampled polling units across the state.
Itodo said that YIAGA Africa would also deploy 24 mobile observers in all the 16 Local Government Areas (LGAs) of the state as collation observers under its Watching The Vote (WTV) project.
He said recruitment of the observers is already ongoing in all the 16 LGAs in the state.
He added that there would be an intensive training for them on how to report to the YIAGA WTV Data Center which would be located in Ado-Ekiti.
“YIAGA Africa will be observing the 2018 Ekiti election by deploying the Parallel Vote Tabulation (PVT) methodology which uses statistical principles, Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs).
“This is to provide systematic data on the quality of election day processes while also verifying the accuracy of the official results.
“This will involve recruiting, training and deploying accredited observers to specifically assigned polling units based on our sample size in each LGA in the state.
“On the election day, observers will be deployed to observe arrival of INEC officials, deployment of election materials, commencement of accreditation and voting, sorting, counting and declaration of results from Polling Units,’’ he said.
Itodo said that the observers would be made to complete a specialised checklist and send their report via coded text message to the WTV Database.
He said the system would analyse the data from Polling Units and the findings would be shared with the public and election stakeholders.
He said that by using the methodology, YIAGA would provide the most timely and accurate information on the conduct of the election as well as help verify accuracy of the election results.
Itodo said the group had successfully observed and verified the November 2017 governorship election in Anambra as well as 2016 election in Ondo and is working towards ensuring credible election in Ekiti.
He said with the WTV observers deployed in Polling Units, it is hoped that credible and accurate information would be provided to citizens and stakeholders on the election.
“YIAGA Africa’s Watching The Vote is a comprehensive observation that also includes the observation of the pre-election environment and political party primaries and activities,’’ he said.