Yiaga Africa Deploys 272 Observers For Ekiti Governorship Poll

Ahead of Saturday’s Ekiti State governorship election, Yiaga Africa has announced the deployment of 272 election observers across the state under its Watching The Vote (WTV) methodology to independently monitor the conduct of the poll.

In a pre-election statement issued on Friday, the civic group said the deployment comprises 250 stationary observers and 22 mobile observers positioned across Ekiti’s 16 local government areas.

According to Yiaga Africa, the observers will track electoral processes and promote transparency throughout the election.

The statement, jointly signed by Chairperson of the 2026 Ekiti Election Observation Mission, Aisha Abdullahi, and Executive Director of Yiaga Africa, Samson Itodo, said the exercise would support independent verification of election procedures and official outcomes.

“This will be done through the Process and Results Verification for Transparency (PRVT) system and Election Result Analysis Dashboard (ERAD 2.0),” the group disclosed.

The organisation further stated that ERAD 2.0 would independently assess the performance of the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV), monitor the timeliness and quality of result uploads, and provide evidence-based analysis of the election process.

According to the group, the Ekiti governorship election represents an important test of Nigeria’s electoral preparedness, transparency, and public confidence under the Electoral Act 2026.

It also noted that the election would be the first governorship contest conducted under the new legal framework and would provide an early indication of how reforms relating to result management, administrative review, and electronic transmission would function in practice.

The group equally disclosed that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had introduced a primary results validation process through the e-EC8A system, allowing polling officials to enter result data directly from physical result sheets into the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS).

“The effective implementation of this process could strengthen public confidence by enabling comparison between electronically entered figures and scanned result sheets uploaded to the IReV portal,” the statement said.

Yiaga Africa further disclosed that voting would take place across 2,445 polling units in the state’s 16 local government areas, with 1,059,360 registered voters expected to participate.

The civic group lamented that 13 political parties are participating in the governorship race, but none fielded a female candidate, while no candidate publicly identifies as a person living with disability.

“This development highlights continuing concerns about inclusion and representation in Nigeria’s political process.

“We also acknowledged INEC’s preparations, including stakeholder engagements, training of election officials, mock accreditation exercises, and logistics planning, but we are greatly worried over gaps in implementing aspects of the Electoral Act and election guidelines,” the group said.

It therefore called for timely deployment of personnel and materials, proper use of BVAS, and transparent management of election results in the election.

The group, which expressed concern over election malpractices in the past, called on voters and politicians to protect election integrity.

“It is still noted that vote buying remains a major threat to election integrity due to the economic hardship that has increases attempts by political actors to influence voters in every election in the country, and we urged voters to exercise restraint by refusing to sell their votes,” the statement added.

The group further called on security agencies to remain professional and politically neutral while ensuring the safety of voters, election officials, and observers throughout the exercise.