Osun Poll: Yiaga Africa Warns Against Violence, Deploys 332 Election Observers

Ahead of the August 15 governorship election in Osun State, Yiaga Africa has raised concerns over growing fears that the poll could be undermined by violence, urging political actors and other stakeholders to ensure a peaceful, credible and transparent electoral process.

Speaking yesterday during a Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and Media Engagement in Osogbo, a member of the Board of Yiaga Africa, Chief Ezenwa Nwagwu, said the anxiety surrounding the election was not limited to residents of Osun State, noting that Nigerians across the country were closely monitoring developments.

He appealed to political parties, candidates, their supporters, security agencies, civil society organisations and voters to work collectively to prevent violence before, during and after the election.

According to him, many voters in Osun are already apprehensive about the conduct of the poll, while observers outside the state also fear the election could be characterised by violence.

“Most of the electorate in Osun State are already worried and concerned. Not just in Osun State, even outside the state, people are thinking that this election is going to be an Armageddon,” Nwagwu said.

He, however, urged stakeholders to prove such fears wrong by conducting themselves peacefully throughout the electoral process.

“Osun voters and all election stakeholders must disappoint those who believe this election will be violent. That can only happen if there is a collective effort to ensure that violence does not occur,” he said.

Nwagwu also called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to intensify voter education across the state’s 30 local government areas and area offices to encourage peaceful participation and strengthen public confidence in the electoral process.

Also speaking, Yiaga Africa’s Head of Knowledge Management and Learning, Safiya Bichi, disclosed that the organisation would deploy 300 stationary observers and 32 roving observers across the 30 local government areas of the state to monitor the election.

She explained that the deployment would be based on Yiaga Africa’s Sample-Based Observation (SBO) methodology, with trained observers stationed at randomly selected polling units to independently assess the credibility of the voting and collation processes.

According to Bichi, the methodology would enable the organisation to verify whether the official results declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) accurately reflect the votes cast by citizens.

She added that Yiaga Africa’s pre-election assessment had identified emerging concerns, particularly security-related incidents, which could pose challenges to the conduct of the governorship election if not adequately addressed.