Sola POPOOLA
Ahead of the 2023 General Election the Centre for Democracy and Development(CDD) has trained 51 election observers.
The observers are expected to make on the spot report about happenings at their respective voting units .
Speaking at the One-day CDD 2023 Election Observers Training held in Ado-Ekiti, Prof. Oluwadare Christopher said the observers are neutral, and apolitical .
Oluwadare,who is the Chairman of the coalition of Civil Society Organizations in Ekiti State clarified that observers, don’t have intervention responsibilities, but they can only observe, report and document whatever they see .
He disclosed that the all- inclusive training involved youths, women, men, and persons with disability.
Oluwadare said the CDD is a governance focus International Non-Governmental Organization, NGO, renowned for promoting good governance, transparency, most especially, supporting INEC to ensure transparency, credible and acceptable elections in the country.
“Observing means you look at what is happening and you report what you see and not what somebody said. You are not reporting what other people say, but you report what you observes yourself to be able to send enough factual information to those people that can intervene” Oluwadare said .
He explained that each observer is going to where they ought to vote, we are factoring where we ought to vote, where their PVCs are attached too, so that they can also first of all cast their votes and thereafter step aside and observer what is happening and report them to the situation room.
“if there is any case of insecurity, untoward activities, you report it to the situation room, then they will called the necessary agencies, either the security, INEC, to go there and intervene and support the smooth conduct of the general election”
In his remarks, the INEC’s Head of Election Monitoring, Mr. Austin Orogbu said observers are not allowed to interfere in the election process, but just to see and report .
Mr. Orogbu urged the observers to work closely with security agencies and poll officials, saying they are not immune to prosecution.
The Programme Officer, Mr. Oluwasegun Adegbegi, who took the technical session of the training disclosed that the observers are expected to work in all the local government areas in Ekiti State.