Guber Polls: INEC’s sensitive, nonsensitive materials in 26 of 28 states, Yiaga Africa confirms

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has deployed sensitive and non-sensitive materials to 26 out of the 28 states, where the governorship and houses of assembly elections are expected to hold on Saturday, March 18.

Yiaga Africa confirmed on Thursday in Abuja, stressing that is also deploying a total of 1,547 duly trained and accredited stationary and roving observers to observe the conduct of the Governorship election in 28 states.

Ezenwa Nwagwu, a member of the board of Yiaga Africa, who represented Hussaini Abdul, the Board Chairman, while addressing a press conference at Transcorp Hilton, alleged that vote buying was still prevalent, which is now disguised in the distribution of gift items and wire (money) transfers by the political actors.

The group confirmed how it received reports of the distribution of money and food items by supporters of the APC in Mbakyaa Mbachougul, Tarka LGA, Benue State.

It also alleged that the APC and PDP representatives were seen collecting voters’ bank account details in Damaturu and Potiskum LGAs in Yobe State, to make wire transfers ahead of the elections.

While same was reported from Akwa Ibom, that the PDP youths in Ibeno LGA were given a cash inducement of N1,000,000 after they had endorsed a candidate on Sunday, March 12, 2023.

It noted that the gubernatorial election observation exercise will be supported by the European Union through its Support to Democratic Governance in Nigeria (EU-SDGN).

The election monitoring group equally predicted that the challenges posed by the cash crunch in the country may also undermine the governorship polls, including the posibility of voter aparthy among majority of the electorates owing to the outcomes of the just conducted presidential and national assembly polls.

“One of the reasons behind the logistics challenges experienced during the Presidential election was due to unavailability of cash which impacted the transportation of drivers from Registration Area Centers to polling units.

“This is despite the promises made by the Central Bank of Nigeria that it will make available all the needed cash for effective logistics deployment. Yiaga Africa is worried that, if the challenges of scarcity of cash are not addressed, the Commission may experience further logistics challenges which will no doubt impact the quality of the process.

“We are also concerned that the low turnout of the presidential elections will be repeated for the gubernatorial elections. While INEC and others have continued to encourage voters to turn out for elections, citizen confidence in the Commission, poor voter education along with the lingering impacts of the Naira scarcity may impact voter turnout,” Yiaga noted.