Speaking at a training session for election observers, Sam Olumekun, National Commissioner and Chairman of the Election and Party Monitoring Committee, emphasised that any observer group that violated the Code of Conduct for observers, as outlined in the Guidelines for Election Observation on the INEC website, will have its accreditation withdrawn.

He also reminded them that the commission does not provide any funding for observers’ accreditation.

Olumekun said the commission was concerned about the issue of integrity in Election observation, saying, “While there are quite a number of trustworthy, honest, objective, hardworking and credible observer groups in the Country and who have contributed greatly to deepening democracy and the electoral process in Nigeria over the years, there are still others who have continued to display laxity about election observation and have cared less about the integrity of the entire process”.

He said the training is to enable accredited observer groups get well acquainted with the online processes of uploading field observers, the functionality of BVAS, codes of conduct of election observation, Election Day processes and procedures as well as other operations, innovations and preparations of the Commission towards the forthcoming elections.

According to him, the forthcoming Edo and Ondo Governorship elections are being conducted as off-cycle elections (that is, elections conducted outside the regular electoral cycle of the country) due to the end of the tenure of the governors of the two States.

He said: “A total of 153 applications were received from interested Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) for the two elections. After review and assessment as provided by our Regulations and Guidelines, 134 groups (124 domestic and 10 international) met the requirements for accreditation.

“The classification of the accredited groups showed that 28 are gender-based, 3 represent persons with disability, 8 are faith-based, 10 international and over 100 others working in areas relevant to the functions of the Commission.

“Most of these Organizations possess previous experiences of election observation. A few, however, have been granted observation for the first time to offer them opportunities to observe the processes of election and enable them to contribute their quota in assessing and improving democratic principles.

“As accredited Observer Groups, you will be allowed access to observe all the election processes as outlined in the Commission’s Reviewed Regulations and Guidelines for the conduct of elections (available at INEC website: www.inecnigeria.org).

“Your organization is required to obtain the access code (Accreditation Number) and number of field observers to be deployed from the Election and Party Monitoring (EPM) Department to enable you to process the online submission of your field observers on an LGA-by-LGA basis by completing the required Forms online.

“You are to do this by uploading your field observers’ names and passport photographs to enable the Commission to issue them with Identity Cards’.

He asked the observers to submit credible reports within the stipulated timeline, saying the Commission expects that the outcome of their observation will continue to enhance our operations and further consolidate democratic principles in the years ahead.

Acting Director of Election and Party Monitoring (EPM), Hauwa Habib described election observation as an integral part of elections globally, adding that It is in the interest of any democratic set-up that observers are updated with rules and regulations; processes, and procedures.

She said the commission’s process of selection and registration of observers is strictly on the provision that the organisation is registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) as trustees whose areas include covering the election and the registered 134 of you here have passed the test.

She told them that from the records available to us at the Commission it is noticed that some of you will need to update your records with the CAC.