By Abubakar Yunus Abuja
Ahead of January 29, 2023 deadline given by the Independent National Electoral Commission(INEC), for the conclusion of the collection of Permanent Voter Cards PVCs, Yiaga Africa has called for an extension, claiming that sufficient PVCs have not been collected.
The Executive Director, Yiaga Africa, Samson Itodo, made the call at the Yiaga Africa Watching the Vote Media Roundtable on the 2023 presidential election and deployment of Parallel Tabulation in Abuja, yesterday.
Itodo explained that its role was to protect the integrity of the process. He said: “We will stand by the Nigerian people to ensure that their votes count and that the process is devoid of all forms of manipulation.
He said, “Sufficient PVCs have not been collected; INEC should consider further extension of the PVC collection to enable people to collect their PVCs because Nigerians are determined to vote in the next elections.
“What we are doing is providing information, public education, and ensuring that people have the information that was required to participate in elections.
“We also wanted to limit election manipulation through trade analysis, protect the integrity of the 2023 elections to data- driven election observation and provide technical support to marginalized groups who are on the ballot for 2023 elections especially women, youth, and persons with disability, Itodo said.
While speaking on the implementation strategy, he said we are going to produce development or knowledge production tools, as well as electoral policy analysis, and engaged in advocacy, which is our traditional tool for advancing our vision.
“We would also be engaged in direct community mobilization and outreach. And these are the ways that the Yiaga Africa is going to be involved in working on elections,” he said.
In his goodwill message,the president of the Nigeria Union of Journalist, Chris Isiguzo urged the media to avoid spreading fake news from social media.
“If we are going to look at the key stakeholders that would facilitate this credible election, beyond the management body, security,media remain highly strategic and that is why we should continue to discourage the spread of fake news.”
