On Saturday, 17th November, 2018, the Independent National Electoral Commission will conduct bye elections in Katsina State for Kankia/Kusada/Ingawa Federal Constituency, Toro Federal Constituency of Bauchi State, Ekiti/Irepodun/Isin/Oke-Ero Federal Constituency of Kwara State and Ikom II State Constituency of Cross-River State. This is the last set of elections to be conducted by INEC before the 2019 general elections and will be a litmus test to assess the level of preparedness of the commission to conduct the elections.
As the largest citizen movement committed to credible elections in Nigeria and AFRICA, YIAGA AFRICA through its Watching The Vote Project has concluded plans to deploy 14 citizen observers to the Bye elections to Federal Constituency in Katsina, Bauchi and Kwara State. Citizen observers will be armed with Election Day observation checklist to observe deployment of INEC officials and materials to Polling Units, Commencement of Accreditation and voting, sorting and counting.
Having built a structure of 822 Long Term Observers across 36 states and 774 Local Government Areas in Nigeria, YIAGA AFRICA’s WTV will be leveraging on observers located in the states where the elections are being held. Two (2) members of the WTV board have also deployed to Bauchi and Kwara states for oversight and to engage with the media and election stakeholders in the stats. All WTV accredited observer will be visiting a minimum of five Polling Units (PUs) within their LGAs and are expected to spend at least two hours at each PU.
In a bid to follow the process till the end, WTV observers will proceed to various LGA Collation Centre to observe the result collation. Watching The Vote Citizen Observers will be sending real time information on the entire Election Day process including any critical incident which may hinder the credibility of the process to a data center that is hosted in Abuja.
YIAGA Africa is a non-governmental organization promoting democracy, constitutionalism and youth participation in Africa. YIAGA Africa achieves its goal through research, capacity development and policy advocacy. YIAGA Africa has been involved in election observation since 2007 and it is one of the leading organizations working on elections in Nigeria.
Signed
Samson Itodo
Executive Director
