Yiaga Africa has projected low voter turnout in the respective states owing to the spate of pre-election violence, a deep sense of citizens’ distrust, apparent fear of intimidation, voter fatigue and loss of faith in elections as a means to achieving democratic leadership.
A board member, Ezenwa Nwangwu, and the director of Programmes, Yiaga Africa, Cynthia Mbamalu, said this while briefing newsmen ahead of the polls.
They also expressed concerns with the unassailable level of insecurity and the spate of violence across the states, especially in Imo and Kogi states.
According to them, the lack of accountability for the fatalities and attacks recorded in the pre-election period deepen the culture of impunity pervading the electoral process.
“Yiaga Africa advocates for eleventh-hour confidence-building voter education to improve voter turnout.
Deployment of Election Materials: Yiaga Africa notes INEC’s deployment of sensitive and non-sensitive election materials to the local government areas (LGAs) in the three states.
“While this projects a positive outlook, Yiaga Africa calls on INEC to ensure proper coordination and communication with the transport companies/unions providing logistics support to ensure early deployment of materials and personnel to polling units on election day.
“The Commission should resist attempts to sabotage its logistics preparations by collaborating with security agencies to arrest and prosecute any defaulting transport companies. This will address the recurring late commencement of polls.
“The Imo and Kogi state governments, through a circular, booked all the rooms in all the hotels in the state, which tactically restricts hotels from providing accommodation to other stakeholders like media, election observers,” they said.
They recommended that “INEC should ensure the operational shortcomings in previous elections are properly addressed ahead of the elections, especially the early deployment of election materials to all polling units.”
They added that, “Collation and Returning Officers deployed in the elections should be individuals of proven integrity and impeccable character. INEC should ensure effective oversight to enforce compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Act 2022 and guidelines on results collation.”
