Laraba MUREY
The Centre for Democracy and Development, says it is deploying 4,993 trained and accredited observers, data clerks, fact-checkers and social media monitors for the presidential, legislative and governorship elections.
Speaking at the launch of its Election Analysis Centre, EAC, and pre-election press briefing on Thursday in Abuja, CDD Director, Idayat Hassan, said there are five issues that could determine the outcome of the elections are are identity, insecurity, institutions, information disorder, and inter and intra-party squabbles.
Hassan noted that while Nigerians embrace multiple identities, the election campaign and the political conversation have tended to sharpen divisions along these lines.
According to the organisation, all six geopolitical zones of the country are confronted by insecurity, which has led to the deployment of the Nigerian military across the federation.
“Northern states are engulfed in long-standing violence with extremist jihadist groups, criminal bandit gangs, and other non-state armed groups who are engaged in deadly attacks against local communities. In the south, civil unrest continues against the backdrop of ongoing violence between farmers and herders and secessionist agitators.
“The situation is further complicated by fuel and currency scarcity which is increasing economic hardships on the more than 130 million Nigerians classified as multi-dimensionally poor,” it said.
The centre stressed the role of institutions as crucial to the conduct of credible and transparent elections, adding that INEC and the security agencies are faced with a herculean task of managing logistics and security of the elections.
It noted that to enhance the credibility of the 2023 Nigerian elections, government should ensure INEC and the security agencies have the necessary resources at their disposal to roll out their comprehensive plans for election day operations to ensure the polls take place in a safe, free, and fair environment.
“Political parties should ensure that their members and supporters adhere to the conditions laid out in the National Peace Accord through the voting process and after the announcement of results.
“INEC should continue to communicate regularly with Nigerians about the ongoing election process and is as transparent as possible during the collation and announcement of results.
“The Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security must ensure that all security personnel on electoral duty adhere to the agreed code of conduct and rules of engagement.
“Social media companies should support the work of fact-checking organisations by promptly taking down digital content that promotes political disinformation or hate speech that relates to the election.
“Nigerian voters, and citizens in the diaspora, should critically assess the information that they receive about the elections before sharing to help prevent the spread of malicious information about the elections,” CDD said.
