Ekiti Guber: Yiaga Africa Expresses Concern over INEC Preparations

Chuks Okocha in Ado Ekiti

As 16 out of 18 registered political parties get ready to participate in Saturday’s gubernatorial election in Ekiti state, Yiaga Africa, has expressed concerns about the perceived shortcomings in the preparations for the election.
The election will be determined by 988,923 registered voters out of which 51% are women and 38.56% are youths (18-34).
 According to INEC, 76% of the registered voters have collected their permanent voters’ cards (PVCs) as of June 14, 2022. 

In a statement Friday morning, the executive director of Yiaga Africa,, Samson Itodo, said,  “Yiaga Africa is however concerned about the imbalance in the distribution of voters to polling units as INEC is yet to address concerns about oversized polling units. Based on INEC’s final list of polling units there are 75 polling units with over 1000 registered voters, 11 with over 2000 voters and 1 polling unit with 3,429 registered voters.
 ‘Yiaga Africa is also concerned about the lack of adequate public information on the new polling unit’s location and the distribution of voters to these polling units.”, the statement stated 
On the deployment of new technology to promote electoral integrity, Yiaga Africa said that  the decision to deploy the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) will no doubt improve the quality and transparency of elections, however, it said that  “While the Commission conducted a mock exercise in a few polling units to test the functionality of the BVAS, we are worried about the low public participation in the exercise. 
“Yiaga Africa hopes that the capacity gaps and technology challenges highlighted in our report on the Federal Capital Territory Council elections in February 2022 have been addressed, to ensure that eligible voters are able to vote on election day.”
 The group said that data for collection rate of Permanent Voters Cards in determining the margin of lead in the election, as enshrined in the INEC guidelines, the conclusiveness of the election will be determined by a comparison of the total number of voters who collected their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) and margin of lead between the first two candidates. 
“To safeguard the transparency of election results, it is imperative for INEC to publish the disaggregated data of the number of PVCs collected per polling unit. While INEC has revealed that 76% of PVCs have been collected in Ekiti State, the collection will end on June 16, 2022.
 “As soon as the PVC collection is suspended, Yiaga Africa urges INEC to provide updated figures of PVCs collected before election day and make this information available on its website.”
It  further said, “Safety and deployment of sensitive materials: We applaud the decision of INEC to refrain from storing sensitive materials at the Central Bank of Nigeria due to allegations of partisanship levelled against the Governor of the CBN. This shift in the protocol for managing the deployment of sensitive materials places a huge responsibility on INEC to ensure the safety and security of sensitive materials as well as effective deployment to LGAs and Registration Centres. Key stakeholders and the public should be adequately informed of INEC’s new strategy for the deployment of sensitive materials. 
“Additionally, the security agencies should support the quest for credible and peaceful polls by providing adequate security to INEC to guarantee the safety of sensitive materials and timely deployment to the polling units.”
“Logistics deployment: Yiaga Africa is immensely worried about the perennial challenge of poor logistics plans in our elections. In recent times, the partnership with the NURTW was soured by sabotage and greed by the union. Yiaga Africa welcomes the intervention of the Ewi of Ekiti urging members of the NURTW to desist from sabotaging INEC’s logistics plan. 
“The Commission should consider alternative and viable options of ensuring effective and timely deployment of election materials to polling units in the event the NURTW defaults. Despite this challenge, Yiaga Africa notes INEC’s commitments during the pre-election period to smooth logistics deployment during the Ekiti governorship election.
“Election Day violence and effective security deployment: Yiaga Africa is concerned with the increasing clashes among political parties and their supporters resulting in heightened tension in the state. These conflicts increase the threats of violence on Election Day. Yiaga Africa is worried about the disturbing reports of some known polling units in Ado-Ijigbo ward in Ado Ekiti that are prone to violence. In past elections, voters have been denied access and chased with machetes. 
“While the contesting political parties and candidates have committed to a Peace Accord, the security agencies need to deploy with competence, professionalism, and neutrality on Election Day. Upholding these principles will prevent incidents of violence on Election Day and secure lives and properties.
“The declining voter turnout in Ekiti State: With voter turnout declining from 50% to 45% between the 2014 and 2018 governorship elections, coupled with low participation in the Continuous Voters Registration in Ekiti State, Yiaga Africa is concerned about a possible decline in citizens participation.”, Yiaga Africa stated.