Osun Guber: Yiaga Africa to deploy 32 mobile observers to 30 LGAs

By Sunday Oguntuyi, Osogbo

Yiaga Africa, an international election observer on Thursday, said it will deploy 500 stationary observers to 250 polling units and 32 mobile observers in all 30 LGAs of Osun state for Saturday/s governorship election.

Yiaga Africa noted that it will also deploy 30 collation centre observers to each of the LGA Collation Centers as the sampled polling units were determined by established statistical principles to ensure the resulting information is representative of the state and unbiased.

Speaking at a press conference in Osogbo, the Executive Director of Yiaga Africa, Samson Itodo said the PVT sample of polling units was drawn according to well-established statistical principles and is truly representative of all of the polling units because the percentage of sampled polling units for each LGA is similar to the percentage of all polling units for each LGA.

Itodo noted that the July 16 governorship election will provide an opportunity for election stakeholders to build on the marked improvement and relative success of the Ekiti Governorship election on June 18th, 2022.

The executive director said with a different political and security terrain, the Osun governorship election will test the resolve of election stakeholders, especially the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and security agencies to conduct credible, transparent, inclusive, peaceful and conclusive elections amidst a tense atmosphere.

Itodo stressed that being the last major election before the 2023 general elections, the July 16 polls is an opportunity for INEC to build citizens’ confidence and gain the trust of Nigerians ahead of the 2023 general elections.

Yiaga Africa urged the commission not to overestimate its capacity nor underestimate potential challenges that could undermine the election.

He emphasised that the voters in Osun and Yiaga Africa expect that INEC and security agencies will deliver credible, peaceful and conclusive elections without challenges of election logistics, technological failures, inconsistent application of electoral laws and guidelines, electoral violence and vote-buying.

According to him “Fifteen (15) out of the eighteen (18) registered political parties in Nigeria are on the ballot, having fulfilled all conditions for candidates’ nomination, with notably no female Governorship candidate in the contest.”

He said, “this election will be determined by 1,955,657 registered voters. This is a significant increase of over three hundred thousand (300,000) additional registered voters from the 2018 elections. According to INEC, 1,479,595 representing 76% of Permanent Voters’ Cards have been collected as of 10th July 2022.”

The election observers, however commended INEC’s effort to relocate polling units from palaces, private residents and other controversial locations.

He said despite the creation of additional polling, there are oversized units with registered voters above the threshold of 750 registered voters per polling unit.

Itodo stressed that “Osun State has 246 polling units with over 1000 registered voters, Eight (8) polling units with over 2000 registered voters and One (1) polling unit with over 3,000 Registered voters. Oversized polling units may pose a logistical challenge on election day. It is imperative for INEC to revisit the expansion of voter access to polling units in order to achieve the desired outcome of the creation of new polling units.”

Also in his remarks, a member of the Yiaga board, Mr Ezenwa Nwagwu recalled that the increasing activities of political thugs and cultists in the state are no doubt capable of threatening the safety of personnel, materials, and citizens on election day.

He, therefore, commended the civility and professionalism of security agencies in Ekiti and the critical role traditional rulers played in promoting peaceful elections; proactive measures must be taken to prevent the escalation of violence on election day in Osun as well.