Ekiti 2018: YIAGA deploys 24 observers to monitor CVR

Youth Initiative for Advocacy Growth and Advancement ( YIAGA ) said it had deployed 24 personnel to Ekiti to monitor the Continuous Voter Registration ( CVR ) ahead of the July 14 governorship poll.

The group’s Executive Director, Mr Samson Itodo, said in a statement on Tuesday in Abuja that the objective of the mission was to assess the processes of the CVR.

Itodo said that the observers would also verify the functionality of the Direct Data Capturing ( DDC ) machine, and check the level of compliance with Independent National Electoral Commission ( INEC ) guidelines.

He recalled that INEC had announced that it would decentralise the CVR to the 177 Wards in Ekiti from Tuesday to April 18.

Itodo said that the exercise was designed to update the voter register with the registration of citizens who turned 18 years after the last voter registration or those who couldn’t register before.

“Uncollected Permanent Voter Cards ( PVCs ) will also be distributed during the exercise and issues relating to transfer of registered voters, lost, damaged or omitted PVCs will be addressed during the exercise.

“YIAGA Africa will be deploying its “Watching the Vote ( WTV )’’ citizen-observers to observe the continuous voter registration.

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“For the CVR in Ekiti, YIAGA WTV is deploying 24 accredited citizen-observers to rotationally observe the process in each of the 16 local government areas.

“This is to cover at least 72 wards out of the 177 wards in the state where the CVR will be conducted,’’ he said.

Itodo said that the observers would send reports via coded text message on their mobile phones.

He explained that the reports would be received directly into a sophisticated database located at the YIAGA Africa’s WTV Data Centre in Abuja “for review, verification and analysis’’.

Itodo said that the group would issue interim reports on the process based on reports from its observers, which would be shared with the public, INEC, political parties, civic society organizations and other stakeholders.

He said that YIAGA would also provide timely and accurate information on the conduct of the CVR, PVC distribution and transfer of registered voters.

He said that WTV was a citizen-led election observation initiative aimed at enhancing the integrity of elections using technology and evidence-based research methodology for election observation.

NAN

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