By Our Reporter
Ahead of the June 20, 2026 governorship election in Ekiti State, Yiaga Africa has concluded plans to deploy 272 election observers across the state to monitor the electoral process.
Speaking at a Civil Society and Media Roundtable organised by Yiaga Africa in Ado-Ekiti on Wednesday, the organisation’s Head of Knowledge Management and Learning, Safiya Bichi, said the observers would comprise 250 stationary observers assigned to sampled polling units across the 16 local government areas and 22 roving observers.
According to Bichi, the observers will monitor key aspects of the election, including the arrival of election officials, voter accreditation, voting, counting, collation of results and uploads to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Result Viewing Portal (IReV). She noted that deployment would be based on the size and voting strength of each local government area to ensure a representative sample.
She said the observation exercise would adopt Yiaga Africa’s Process and Results Verification for Transparency (PRVT) methodology, which combines statistics and information technology to independently assess the quality of the electoral process and verify official results. The observers will transmit coded reports through SMS to a central database for real-time analysis.
Bichi described the Ekiti governorship election as significant because it would be the first election to be conducted under the new Electoral Act 2026, making it a critical test ahead of the 2027 general elections. She urged INEC, security agencies and political parties to remain professional and peaceful throughout the electoral process, stressing that elections should not be treated as a do-or-die affair.
“We are interested in making things work. Our observation will help reflect on challenges, strengthen the electoral process and project what to expect in 2027,” she said.
Earlier, the Chairman of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Ekiti State Council, Comrade Kayode Babatuyi, disclosed that the union had set up a special task force to identify and screen out unaccredited journalists seeking to cover the election.
Babatuyi explained that although online accreditation was ongoing, physical verification would also be conducted at the NUJ Secretariat in collaboration with INEC officials.
“Anyone found not to be a bonafide journalist will not be issued accreditation materials. We are confronting fake news and sensationalism head-on because the media is a critical stakeholder in credible elections,” he said.
The NUJ chairman urged journalists covering the election to adhere strictly to professional ethics and prioritise their safety, noting that Ekiti had maintained a record of peaceful elections without incidents involving media practitioners. He also advised members of the public to verify information through credible sources, warning that abuse of social media remained a major source of misinformation.
Also speaking, the Executive Director of Disability Not A Barrier Initiative, Olajide Funsho Benjamin, called on persons with disabilities to actively participate in the election and urged INEC to provide assistive materials such as Braille ballot guides and magnifying glasses to enhance inclusiveness.
Both Yiaga Africa and the NUJ emphasised that their interventions were aimed at strengthening the electoral process and promoting credible elections in the state ahead of the June 20 governorship poll.(www.nannews.ng)
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