A Civil Society Organisation (CSO), Yiaga Africa, has kicked against a bill before the National Assembly seeking to introduce compulsory voting in Nigeria and prescribe six months jail term for any eligible voter who refuses to vote. In a statement on Friday in Abuja, the Executive director of the NGO, Samson Itodo, described the bill as draconian. He acknowledged the …

One of the civil society group that monitored the Ondo State governorship election, Yiaga Africa, has described the process as largely peaceful and orderly. According to the group, although there were some cases of attempted vote buying, that did not cast a dark cloud on the outcome of the exercise. “So far the process is commendable, we went round and …

Yiaga Africa, the continent’s frontline non-profit organisation promoting participatory democracy, human rights and civic participation, has reported that last Saturday’s governorship election in Edo State failed the “electoral integrity test”. It attributed this to “lack of transparency in the results collation process, which led to the manipulation of results”. On Sunday, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared the …

Eight days to the Edo State governorship election, Yiaga Africa has expressed concern about the possibility of violence during the election as a result of its pre-election observations and therefore called on security agencies to be on guard, the political parties to campaign on issues and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to be fair to all parties in the …

The Executive Director of Yiaga Africa, Barrister Samson Itodo has said that political actors in Edo State are preparing for a showdown. He also said that Thursday’s Peace Accord boycott by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) might impair voters’ turnout in the state’s governorship poll on 21 September. During an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Thursday night, Itodo said that, …

Election monitoring body, Yiaga Africa, said it will deploy 21 trained and accredited citizen observers using its Process and Results Verification for Transparency (PRVT) methodology to observe today’s bye-elections to ensure the process and results are credible. The election observation body, in its bulletin, detailing some of its programmes, said the deployment will enable it to provide the most timely …

The Executive Director of foremost election observer, Yiaga Africa, Mr Samson Itodo has said that about 200 million ballot papers were wasted in the just concluded presidential and National Assembly elections because a lot of people did not show up to cast their votes. Itodo said on Channels Television’s The 2023 Verdict on Wednesday: “If 72 million ballot papers were issued …

A civil rights organisation, Yiaga Africa has added a new twist to last Saturday’s general election, saying that the results from Imo and Rivers States were inconsistent with its projections for the states. The organisation raised the observation in its post-election statement signed by the Chair, Watching The Vote, and Executive Director, Samson Itodo, obtained on Wednesday night and titled, …

In preparation for the 2023 elections, which open in 99 days, a nonprofit organisation and election observer, Yiaga Africa has trained 882 Long Term Observers (LTOs) nationwide. In a statement on Wednesday, Yiaga Africa’s Executive Director, Samson Itodo explained that the 882 LTOs were trained through its Watching The Vote (WTV) election observation project. The statement reads in part: “Yiaga …

Following growing concerns on the menace of vote buying and other forms of voter inducement during elections, Nigerians have been asked not to condone vote trading and to shift focus on political parties, politicians, and security agencies who do not seem to be doing much against buying and selling of votes. Board Member at YIAGA Africa, Ezenwa Nwagwu made the …