TheNewsGuru

Tag: Yiaga Africa

  • Yiaga Africa kicks against compulsory voting bill before NASS

    Yiaga Africa kicks against compulsory voting bill before NASS

    A civil society organisation, Yiaga Africa, has kicked against a bill before the National Assembly seeking to introduce compulsory voting in Nigeria and prescribe six months jail term for any eligible voters who refuses to vote.

    Executive Director of the NGO, Mr Samson Itodo, in a statement issued on Friday in Abuja, described the bill as draconian.

    He acknowledged the fact that the bill was conceived as a legislative intervention to address what he called an abysmally low voter turnout in the county.

    Itodo also said that the rationale behind the bill was to address one of the biggest challenges in Nigeria’s electoral
    system.

    He, however, said that the strong-arm approach adopted by the bill was  draconian and that constituted a gross violation of constitutionally-guaranteed fundamental human rights.

    Indeed, the right to abstain from voting is itself a legitimate form of political expression protected under domestic and international human rights law.

    “Voter turnout in Nigeria has fluctuated significantly over the years, reflecting a complex interplay of political and systemic factors that
    influence electoral participation.

    “In 1979, turnout stood at 34.6 per cent, increasing slightly to 38.9 per cent in 1983 and holding at 35 per cent in 1993.

    “A notable surge occurred in 1999 with a turnout of 52.3 per cent, followed by a peak in 2003 when 69.1 per cent of registered voters participated,” he recalled.

    Itodo noted that the upward trend, however , got reversed in subsequent elections, 57.5 per cent in 2007, 53.7 per cent in 2011, 43.7 per cent in 2015, 34.7 per cent in 2019 and a historic low
    of 27.1 per cent in 2023.

    According to him, the sharp decline has positioned Nigeria as the largest democracy in Africa with the lowest voter turnout.

    “Democracy thrives on freedom which includes the choice to participate or abstain from voting.

    “Compulsory voting undermines this democratic freedom and  punitive sanctions for not voting erodes the foundational principles of voluntary democratic engagement.

    “The bill, in its entirety, fails to address the drivers of voter apathy, such as distrust in the electoral process, election manipulation and poor governance.

    Rather han compelling voting, Itodo said that the national assembly should prioritise electoral reforms that would rebuild public trust, improve election integrity and remove structural and systemic barriers to participation.

    “These include reforms that guarantee mandatory electronic transmission of results, review of the mode of appointments into INEC, early voting, diaspora voting and improved transparency in the management of elections,” je said.

    The executive director said that voter apathy should not be addressed with imposing punishment for not but through trust, electoral justice and accountability.

    He, therefore, urged the national assembly to reject the proposed bill and channel its legislative efforts toward passing the electoral amendment that would expand access to voting, guarantee electoral transparency and protect the political rights of  Nigerians.

  • Edo election results were manipulated – Yiaga Africa insists

    Edo election results were manipulated – Yiaga Africa insists

    Yiaga Africa has insisted that the 21 September governorship election in Edo State failed integrity test due to the lack of transparency in the results collation processes, which led to the manipulation of results.

    Yiaga Africa’s Programme Officer, Paul James, stated this on Thursday while speaking on the topic “Agenda Setting and Methodology,” at a one-day post-election meeting with Civil Society Organidations and media partners, held in Benin City, Edo State.

    He said the outcome of the election was assessed based on three principles: resilience, integrity, and impartiality tests.

    James who noted that the election was largely peaceful, however added that the inflation of results in some of the local government areas, differed from the results posted on INEC’s IREV, which he said rendered the outcome of the process incredible.

    He pointed to the alleged cases of disruption in Ikpoba Okha, Etsako West, Egor, and Oredo local government areas during the course of collation created opportunities for election manipulation, raising significant concerns about the credibility and integrity of the results collation process.

    He further alleged that results in Egor, Oredo, Esan West, and Etsako West local government areas were manipulated at the collation centers.

    He said: “Our position on the election, after reviewing what transpired, especially as a result of the results collation and the process, is that it fails to meet the election integrity standards for obvious reasons.

    “While largely we would say the election process went well, what we observed at the collation centers showed that the results of some parties were inflated. Without casting aspersions on any party, we said any party could have benefitted from the process.

    “For instance, we saw that the results in Egor, Oredo, and Esan West Local Government Areas were tampered with.

    “Our reasoning was that when observers sent in reports from the polling unit levels, we compared that against what INEC had submitted on their IREV.

    “To a large extent, what was in the IREV matched what we had, but when the results started coming in, maybe as a result of issues that happened at some of those collation levels, like Egor LGA, where the collation was moved to the INEC office.

    “Oredo LGA was also moved. At Ikpoba Okha LGA, canisters of teargas were thrown at many people; the collation was also disrupted and moved. In Etsako West, there were gunshots around the vicinity, and the collation was also disrupted.

    “So, that was why we paid attention to those specific locations, and we thought that if the results were not hampered with, it was very likely that the election might not even have been concluded on Saturday because there wouldn’t have been a clear winner. It would have gone into a runoff.

    “That was based on what we saw, and we thought that it was as a result of these manipulations that these events happened,” he said.

    James, however, called on INEC to invoke Section 65 of the Electoral Act to review the results that have allegedly been declared under questionable circumstances.

    He added: “The people are aggrieved and have reasons to question the outcome; INEC can go back and look at what had happened.

    “The people are aggrieved, and they have reasons to question the outcome. INEC can go back and look at what had happened.

    There are places where, for instance, the ward collation started, and some of the wards were skipped.

    “So, if those reports are out there and the people don’t feel comfortable with the reports of some of those wards, INEC can simply go and audit it and see if whatever is there is reflective.

    “Don’t forget that at different layers, you are supposed to have party agents, and in fact, party agents have called into question some of those results.

    “I think, in the interest of transparency, the commission can kindly go back and do that. Sadly, the seven-day window for INEC to do that has expired.

    “The only body that can do any of those things at the moment is the court, and so we wait to see what the court could do going forward.

    “While key processes such as accreditation, voting, counting, and recording of results at the polling unit substantially complied with procedures, the results collation process was compromised by the actions of some biased INEC officials in connivance with other actors”.

     

  • LG poll: Why SIECs need to be liberated from stronghold of governors – Yiaga Africa

    LG poll: Why SIECs need to be liberated from stronghold of governors – Yiaga Africa

    Yiaga Africa has said most of the recently held local elections in the country are a travesty of democratic elections and fall short of electoral integrity standards.

    Executive Director of Yiaga Africa, Samson Itodo, said this in a statement, on Monday.

    The ruling party or parties supported by governors in power have won virtually all the chairmanship and councillorship seats in elections.

    In his statement, Itodo said, “To harness the benefits of the Supreme Court ruling granting financial autonomy to local governments, it is crucial to extend electoral reform to local government elections to liberate SIECs from the stronghold of state governors by safeguarding their operational and financial independence.

    IGP well respected, sought after globally – Force PRO
    Go to court, Tinubu tells politicians fomenting trouble in Rivers
    “Yiaga Africa has been actively working on local government elections and will issue a comprehensive report at the end of October, a period marked as the ‘super month’ for local elections. Our report will be based on the Local Government Elections Index we recently developed.”

    He said as more states prepare for their upcoming local elections, it is important for the executive to refrain from interfering with the operations of State Independent Electoral Commissions (SIECs).

    “We also urge SIECs to assert their partial constitutional independence to conduct credible elections. Strict adherence to established guidelines is essential for ensuring the validity and integrity of local government elections,” Itodo said.

     

  • Election observer missions are not election management agencies- APC blasts Yiaga Africa over verdict on Edo guber election

    Election observer missions are not election management agencies- APC blasts Yiaga Africa over verdict on Edo guber election

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) has dismissed the verdict of Yiaga Africa, one of the civil society organizations accredited by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to monitor the Edo governorship election.

    Yiaga Africa, an election observer group, had declared that the election results were manipulated.

    Reacting to the verdict, the APC in a statement by its spokesman, Felix Morka, said: ”Yiaga Africa is not, and must desist from constituting itself into, a parallel agency for the declaration of election result.”

    “Yiaga Africa’s report is a travesty, replete with methodological flaws, politicized observations, inconsistencies, inaccuracies, and called its credibility into question.

    “Election observer missions are not election management agencies and cannot usurp INEC’s statutory authority as the sole election management body in Nigeria. Doing so would constitute a clear breach of the Electoral Act and the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

    “While election observer missions, like Yiaga Africa, are at liberty to share their observations about the election process with INEC and the general public, however, declaring election result or second guessing result declared by INEC in performance of its statutory duties, falls beyond their observation mandate.

    “Declaring or second-guessing the Edo state gubernatorial result based on unsubstantiated, unverified, highly questionable statistical parameters created by Yiaga Africa for Yiaga Africa is designed to create unnecessary confusion and the appearance of a parallel election process.”

    The ruling party urged Yiaga Africa ”to refrain from enlisting itself in the season’s annals of infamy, alongside the likes of Governor Godwin Obaseki and his illegal and sinister midnight invasion of INEC’s offices, and Governor Ahmadu Fintiri’s illegal declaration of bogus election result.”

    According to the party, ”the election’s outcome is an unequivocal rejection of the Obaseki administration’s bad governance and endorsement of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s visionary policies, which have transformed Nigeria’s economic landscape, strengthened security, and promoted good governance.”

    The APC further stated that: ”By their votes, the good people of Edo State were loud and clear in their choice of Senator Monday Okpebholo as the next Governor to lead the state into a new era of peace, unity, people-centered development and prosperity for all.”

     

  • Edo governorship election failed integrity test – Yiaga Africa

    Edo governorship election failed integrity test – Yiaga Africa

    Yiaga Africa has said  the Edo State governorship election announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC) failed its integrity test.

    The civil society group said it reached the conclusion after it deployed the Process and Results Verification for Transparency (PRVT) methodology to observe the Edo State governorship election, utilizing 300 stationary and 25 roving observers covering a representative sample of polling units across all 18 LGAs.

    This was made known in a statement released on Monday and jointly signed by Dr. Aisha Abdullahi, Chair of the 2024 Edo Election Mission, and Samson Itodo, Executive Director.

    Yiaga Africa stated that the election failed the electoral integrity test due to the lack of post election statement on the transparency in the results collation process, which according to it, led to the manipulation of results.

    “While key processes such as accreditation, voting, counting, and recording of results at the polling unit substantially complied with procedures, the results collation process was compromised by the actions of some biased INEC officials in connivance with other actors.

    “This manipulation severely undermines the overall integrity of the election.”

  • Election: Yiaga Africa to  use advance  methodology to provide information 

    Election: Yiaga Africa to  use advance  methodology to provide information 

    Yiaga Africa says its Process and Results Verification for Transparency (PRVT) would independently assess the quality of the election process and verify the accuracy of official results announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Kogi and Imo.

    Dr Asmau Maikudi, Member, Watching the Vote (WTV) Working Group of the CSO, said this at a  briefing on Bayelsa, Imo and Kogi governorship election in Abuja.

    Yiaga Africa WTV is deploying the PRVT methodology to observe the governorship elections in Imo and Kogi,” she said.

    She said that this involved the deployment of 600 stationary observers to a representative randomly selected sample of 300 polling units in each of the states and 50 roving observers in Kogi and Imo.

    “With the PRVT, Yiaga Africa will independently assess the quality of the process and verify the accuracy of official results announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

    “This deployment will enable Yiaga Africa to provide the most timely and accurate information on the governorship elections in the states.

    “Using the PRVT, Yiaga Africa will also provide an independent projection of voter turnout in Imo and Kogi, and will be able to project the vote shares that each party should receive within a narrow-estimated range.

    “If the official results fall within Yiaga Africa’s estimated range, then the public, political parties and candidates should have confidence in the ballots cast at the polling units,”  she said.

    Maikudi, however, stated that only the electoral umpire had the legal mandate to announce the election results.

    “As soon as INEC announces the official results, Yiaga Africa will follow up with a result verification press conference to share its statement on the accuracy of the election results,” she said.

    She also said that in addition to the PRVT methodology, Yiaga Africa deployed nine roving observers in Bayelsa and also observe the results collation process in all local government areas (LGAs) and the state’s results collation centres.

    Director Programmes ,Yaiga Africa, Cynthia Mbamalu, said that the CSO’s data centre received critical incident reports relating to pre-filled election result sheets and other irregularities that needed to be investigated by the commission.

    She called on INEC to arrest, investigate and prosecute the individuals responsible for the electoral offence.

    “Yiaga Africa calls on INEC to provide an update on when voters in locations where elections are yet to commence will vote, especially polling units affected by the late arrival of polling officials or materials destroyed due to the boat mishap.

    “Yiaga Africa calls on INEC and security agencies to uphold the transparency of the results collation process by complying with guidelines on results management.”

     

  • Imo Guber: YIAGA Africa deploys 328 observers, PRVT observation methodology – says Official

    Imo Guber: YIAGA Africa deploys 328 observers, PRVT observation methodology – says Official

    Yiaga Africa says it is deploying 328 trained observers and an advanced citizen observation methodology – Process and Results Verification for Transparency (PRVT), in the November 11 Imo governorship poll.

    The Director of Programmes of the group, Miss Cynthia Mbamalu, made the disclosure at an interactive session with Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and newsmen in Owerri on Thursday.

    Mbamalu, who said that the PRVT had been deployed in over 50 countries, said the observation methodology does not only focus on vote tabulation but transparency of electoral process.

    “The PRVT leverages two important rules: Statistics and Technology.

    “Statistics help us to randomly select polling units across the 27 Local Government Areas.

    “In Imo and Kogi, we have selected 300 sampled polling units across the states and we have recruited and trained our observers to observe the elections.

    “They are to observe the process from the arrival of materials and personnel to the opening of the poll, the conduct of the polls and the results,” she said.

    Mbamalu further said that the methodology would help to observe compliance of the poll to INEC Electoral Guidelines.

    She said a database would also be set up in Abuja to receive and analyse results from the elections, which would be sent in by the observers.

    “The CSOs and media are human rights defenders because what they do is to observe the process and ensure that the right things are done.

    “We have the responsibility to redesign and give hope of democracy in our country and ensure that the people’s voices are heard and reflected in governance,” she said.

    Mbamalu urged the Police to ensure efficient and deliberate deployment of personnel, driven by intelligence, to six Local Government Areas of the state, which she described as volatile.

    The areas, according to her, include Oru East, Oru West, Okigwe, Orlu, Orsu and Ehime Mbano, which have major security threats.

    She said: “If citizens are not confident of their right to vote, the right to be voted for and, free and fair atmosphere, in terms of security, it limits their confidence and fundamental right to vote.

    “We want security deployed to protect the people and not to intimidate them.

    “The personnel should be professional and must understand the importance of human rights policing that seeks to protect the people first,” she said.

    While noting that INEC had commenced training of the ad hoc staff for the poll, she underscored the need to ensure that only the trained ad hoc staff are deployed to the polling units.

    Mbamalu said the meeting was organised to discuss concerns of CSOs and the media in the election with a view to fostering common grounds for the coverage of the poll.

    “We believe that for this elections to be truly transparent and fair, we need to ensure that there is due compliance with the electoral guidelines and that the process is not just transparent but seen to be so,” she said.

     

  • 2023: INEC RECs fail constitutional test

    2023: INEC RECs fail constitutional test

    A coalition of nine notable Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and partners have disclosed that some of the 19 Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) failed the constitutional test of non-partisanship and unquestionable integrity.

    The coalition CSOs are The Kukah Centre, Partners for Electoral Reform (PER), Nigerian Women Trust Fund (NWTF), Yiaga Africa, International Press Center (IPC), Center for Media and Society (CMS), The Albino Foundation (TAF), Elect Her and Inclusive Friends Association (IFA).

    TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports Mr Lanre Arogundade of IPC disclosed the development at a news conference on Friday in Abuja, and advocated for the review of the 19 INEC RECs, stressing that the review was necessary to address some issues.

    According to Arogundade, the Nigerian Senate on July 26 announced President Buhari’s appointment of 19 RECs following the expiration of the tenure of the outgone RECs in 19 states. He noted that out of the 19 nominated RECs, 14 were new appointments, while five were reappointed.

    He listed the new nominees to include: Pauline Onyeka Ugochi, Imo,  Muhammad  Bashir, Sokoto, Prof. Ayobami Salami, Oyo  Zango Abdu, Katsina, Queen Elizabeth Agwu, Ebonyi, Agundu Tersoo Benue and Yomere Oritsemlebi from Delta.

    Others are: Prof. Yahaya Ibrahim, Kaduna, Dr. Nura Ali , Kano, Agu  Sylvia ,Enugu, Ahmed Garki , FCT,  Hudu Yunusa ,Bauchi, Prof. Uzochukwu Chijioke, Anambra,  and Mohammed Nura  ,Yobe.

    Meanwhile, the reappointed nominees include Ibrahim Abdullahi (Adamawa); Obo Effanga (Cross River); Umar Ibrahim (Taraba); Agboke Olaleke (Ogun); and Prof. Samuel Egwu (Kogi).

    “Appointments into INEC have grave implications for the credibility, independence and capacity of the Commission to deliver credible, transparent, inclusive and conclusive elections.

    “It is for this reason that the Constitution prescribes the criteria and procedure for appointments into INEC to protect the Commission’s neutrality, objectivity and non-partisanship.

    ”Section 156(1)(a) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria clearly prohibits the appointment of any person who is a member of a political party as a member of INEC.

    “To further ensure the neutrality of the members of INEC, the Constitution clearly mandates in the Third Schedule, Part 1, Item F, paragraph 14 (1) that Commissioners shall be non-partisan and persons of unquestionable integrity.

    “Our investigation and analysis prove that some of the nominees fail the constitutional test of non-partisanship and unquestionable integrity,“ Arogundade disclosed.

    He further said that evidence abounded that some of the nominees were either partisan, politically aligned, or previously indicted for corruption.

    “We contend that the appointment of these individuals as RECs will significantly undermine the neutrality and impartiality of the Independent National Electoral Commission, and it will increase mistrust in INEC and Nigeria’s electoral process.

    ”By the combined effect of Section 156 (1)(a) and Third Schedule, Part 1, Item F, paragraph 14 (1), these individuals are constitutionally prohibited from any appointment as members of INEC.

    ”It will be against the sacred spirit of the Constitution to accept their nomination, given their antecedent and close affinity with political parties, it is improbable that they will remain neutral and objective if successfully screened as INEC RECs,” he said.

    Also, Mr Jake Epelle, Founder of Albino Foundation, said the coalition was constrained to observe that the appointments did not reflect the principles of non-discrimination and inclusivity.

    Epelle said it was critical that the coalition strove to make the electoral process more inclusive, representative, and qualitative.

    He said the appointment of PWDS would provide the pulse required to give effect to the provisions of the Discrimination Against Persons Living with Disabilities Act, 2018, and other legislations and guiding principles in that regard.

    Epelle added that the group called for a thorough examination and background checks of the credentials of the nominees.

    He said that the coalition believed that the electoral commissioners should be individuals with impeccable character, unquestionable neutral inclinations, dispositions, and competence.

    Mr Ezenwa Nwagwu, Board Member, Yiaga Africa, said that it was critical for the legitimacy and success of the 2023 general election that the appointment of the RECs is concluded expeditiously in a transparent, non-partisan, and professional manner.

    Nwagwu said that this was especially because the 2023 election was in 183 days. He said the undersigned CSOs called for the withdrawal of the nomination in the public interest .

    “In making nominations into INEC  should be guided by the judgment of the Federal High Court on affirmative action wherein the court directed that all appointments must comply with the 35 per cent affirmative action for women.

    ”In the same vein, the President should ensure the representation of Persons with disability (PWDs) and young people in the appointments.“The Senate should accelerate the process of screening nominees without compromising due diligence and comprehensive scrutiny of nominations forwarded by the President,” he said.

  • Vote Buying: Hold parties, security operatives accountable-Critical stakeholders urge Nigerians

    Vote Buying: Hold parties, security operatives accountable-Critical stakeholders urge Nigerians

    Following growing concerns on the menace of vote buying and other forms of voter inducement during elections, Nigerians have been asked not to condone vote trading and to shift focus on political parties, politicians, and security agencies who do not seem to be doing much against buying and selling of votes.

    Board Member at YIAGA Africa, Ezenwa Nwagwu, made the call during an anti-corruption radio programme, PUBLIC CONSCIENCE, produced by the Progressive Impact Organization for Community Development, PRIMORG, Wednesday in Abuja.

    Ezenwa, reflecting on the improvement recorded by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, during last week’s Osun governorship election, called on Nigerians to pay close attention to political parties and politicians as they are the main enablers of vote buying and other forms of malpractice; as well as chided Nigerians who justify the sale of votes due to poverty and economic hardship.

    He maintained that the introduction of technology into elections and the pressure mounted on INEC by Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and Nigerians over the years is paying off and pivotal to the credible poll delivered in Osun on July 16, 2022.

    Ezenwa stressed that attention should be on political parties and aspirants of political offices who have not shown commitment to ridding corruption and voter inducement off Nigeria’s electoral process, as well as security agencies whose actions and inactions ensure that perpetrators of electoral crimes are not prosecuted.

    Expressing discontent on citizens making excuses for selling their votes, Nwagwu said, “Vote buying is a crime. Let us not justify what dehumanizes us. An election is held on weekends, one Saturday, and that one Saturday, you collect N2000 and justify that it is because of hunger that has not killed you.

    “We emotionalize and deodorize crimes. We must come to that point where we face the real issues. When you collect money and gifts, you have already devalued your citizenship by saying I can’t even hold you accountable anymore. Is it the N2000, N5000, Maggi, or sugar that you will collect that one Saturday that will keep you alive for another four years,” He queried?

    He added that Nigerians had not paid even a little attention to the political parties and their processes like INEC, noting that “INEC brings election material, but who buys the vote? Who compromises the electoral officer? Who gets the people who snatch ballot boxes if there is a ballot box to be snatched?

    “If we are paying equal oversight attention to what people call internal party issues and electoral stakeholders, meaning the political party, the security agents, we will come back to this point where we have seen incremental progress in INEC, but these other people have remained where they are because we are not paying attention,” Nwagwu stressed.

    Nwagwu also called on religious and traditional institutions to take the lead in advocacy to discourage Nigerians under their influence from vote trading ahead of the 2023 general elections, while backing evaluation of the activities of security agents after elections to ensure they carry out their jobs to the later.

    On her part, the Executive Director of the Emma Ezeazu Centre for Good Governance and Accountability, Mma Odi, tasked citizens with ending vote buying in Nigeria, adding that adopting a complete electronic voting system will mean the end of vote buying in the country.

    “I think vote buying will end when we go full electronic voting, so there will be no vote and show anymore. People will have to stop selling and buying votes so that all the free, fair, peaceful, inclusive, and credible elections we have been working hard and praying for will become a reality,” Odi stated.

    Public Conscience is a syndicated weekly anti-corruption radio program used by PRIMORG to draw government and citizens’ attention to corruption and integrity issues in Nigeria.
    The program has the support of the MacArthur Foundation.

  • Anambra election: How many electorate were denied right to vote

    Anambra election: How many electorate were denied right to vote

    Yiaga Africa, an independent election observer group, said late arrival of electoral officials, materials, accreditation and voting, denied many electorate the right to vote in the Anambra governorship election.

    Yiaga Africa said this in a situational statement on the 2021 Anambra Gubernatorial Election held on Saturday.

    The group said the challenge of inability of the Bimodal Voters Accreditation System (BVA) or card readers to verify voters timely also resulted to many voters not casting their votes in good time.

    Samson Itodo, Yiaga Africa Executive Director, and Dr Ezenwa Nwagwu, a board member of YIAGA Africa, jointly signed the Statement.

    The group said it based its report on verified reports received from 229 of 248 sampled polling units using the Watching the Vote (WTV) method.

    It said that on the average, two polling officials were deployed to those polling units where the Independent National Electiral Commission (INEC) officials and materials arrived.

    “This is lower than the required number of four polling officials per polling unit, at least one female polling official was present in the polling units.

    “Yiaga Africa WTV observed the deployment of the BVAS to the polling units. We received reports of the BVAS failure to authenticate voters’ fingerprints and photos even where voter details were confirmed on the voter register.

    “Yiaga Africa is concerned that the non-opening of these polling stations disenfranchises registered voters in those polling units,” it stated.

    The observer group blamed the poor deployment of man and materials to voting centres on lack of effective collaboration between INEC and transport companies as well as lack of contingency plans to take care of any failure.

    According to Yiaga Africa, reports from the WTV observers revealed that by 9:30 am only 28 per cent of polling units commenced accreditation and voting and by 10:30 am only 50 per cent of the polling units had commenced accreditation and voting.

    “Yiaga Africa anticipated these challenges based on our pre-election observation, hence the call in our pre-election statement urging INEC to make contingency plans in situations where respective transport unions/companies reneged on their contractual obligation to deploy.

    “These incidents could potentially undermine the integrity of the election if not addressed.

    “Yiaga Africa commends the people of Anambra for the enthusiasm and resilience demonstrated with the turnout for the elections.

    “INEC owes the people of Anambra a duty to take necessary steps to ensure that registered voters are not disenfranchised on the basis of technological failures or logistics challenges.

    “Yiaga Africa urges INEC to provide periodic updates on the status of elections in polling units where the BVAS consistently malfunctioned or where elections did not hold.

    ”Yiaga Africa lauds the professionalism exhibited by security agencies since the commencement of polls,” they said.

    The group called on security agencies to respect human rights and maintain non-partisan dispositions throughout the results to investigate reports of hijack of election materials and prosecute the culprits.

    “Yiaga Africa would provide updates as the process progresses,” warning that it would expose irregularities especially when the results doesn’t tally with observations.

    “Yiaga Africa commends the good people of Anambra State for their peaceful conduct during the voting process and pleads that them to remain patient and peaceful through the voting and counting process,” it stated.

    Meanwhile, INEC has said that voting will continue on Sunday in areas where voting could not hold on Saturday.