Non-Profit civic hub, Yiaga Africa has described Saturday’s Ekiti State governorship election as a critical test of Nigeria’s new Electoral Act 2026, warning that the credibility of the poll will depend on the preparedness of electoral authorities, transparency in results management and the neutrality of security agencies.
Speaking at a press conference in Ado-Ekiti on Thursday, Chair of the 2026 Ekiti Election Observation Mission, Dr. Aisha Abdullahi, said the election would be the first governorship contest conducted under the new electoral framework and could shape public confidence ahead of the 2027 general elections.
The election, scheduled for June 20, will be held across 2,445 polling units in Ekiti’s 16 local government areas, with 1,059,360 registered voters expected to participate.
According to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), voter card collection has reached 97.1 per cent, while 13 political parties are fielding candidates.
Yiaga Africa, however, expressed concern over the lack of inclusivity in the race, noting that no political party nominated a female candidate and none of the candidates publicly identifies as a person with disability.
“This raises serious concerns about the persistence of exclusion in political recruitment and candidate nomination,” the organisation said.
The civic group acknowledged INEC’s preparations, including stakeholder engagements, training of election officials, mock accreditation exercises and logistical arrangements despite delays in the release of election funding.
However, it said the mock accreditation exercise exposed gaps in the implementation of provisions contained in the Electoral Act 2026 and INEC’s Regulations and Guidelines for Elections.
Yiaga Africa urged the electoral commission to ensure timely deployment of personnel and materials, effective activation of Registration Area Centres (RACs), proper use of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and transparent management and transmission of election results.
A major focus of the election, according to the organisation, will be the implementation of new provisions governing electronic transmission and validation of results.
Under the revised regulations, INEC introduced the electronic EC8A (e-EC8A), which allows polling officials to enter polling unit results directly into the BVAS device.
Yiaga Africa said proper implementation of the innovation could strengthen electoral integrity by enabling comparisons between electronically entered results and scanned copies of result sheets uploaded to the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV).
On security, Yiaga Africa commended security agencies operating under the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES) for maintaining a relatively peaceful environment but identified several local government areas as potential flashpoints.
The group specifically highlighted Ado-Ekiti, Ikole, Oye and Ikere LGAs as areas requiring close monitoring, while expressing concern about the movement of election officials, observers and materials in Ilejemeje and Moba LGAs due to recent kidnapping incidents.
It warned that insecurity, particularly after dark, could undermine public confidence and affect election operations during collation.
While political awareness remains high among citizens, especially women, youths and persons with disabilities, Yiaga Africa said voter apathy may increase because of the perceived lack of competitiveness in the race and lingering distrust in the electoral process.
According to the organisation, the election will ultimately be judged on three key benchmarks: preparedness, transparency and neutrality.
It said the preparedness test would examine the efficiency of election administration, including logistics, deployment of personnel and functionality of electoral technology.
The transparency test, it noted, would assess INEC’s implementation of the new Electoral Act and electoral guidelines, including BVAS accreditation, validation of results through e-EC8A, electronic transmission of results to IReV and transparent collation procedures.
The neutrality test, Yiaga Africa added, would focus on the conduct of security agencies and whether they provide protection without partisan interference, intimidation or excessive use of force.
“The three tests will determine whether the Ekiti election becomes a model for electoral integrity under the new Electoral Act or another missed opportunity to rebuild public trust ahead of the 2027 general election,” the organisation stated.
As part of its election observation efforts, Yiaga Africa announced the deployment of its Watching The Vote (WTV) methodology, supported by the European Union under the EU Support to Democratic Governance in Nigeria Phase Two programme.
The organisation said it would deploy 250 stationary observers to a representative sample of polling units across the state, supported by 22 mobile observers covering all 16 local government areas.
Yiaga Africa also unveiled its upgraded Election Result Analysis Dashboard (ERAD 2.0), an artificial intelligence-assisted platform designed to independently monitor and analyse polling unit results uploaded to the IReV portal.
According to the organisation, the system will assess the availability, accessibility, timeliness and quality of uploaded result sheets while providing real-time analysis to counter misinformation and fake election results.
The group called on INEC to sustain transparency and professionalism throughout the election process, urged security agencies to maintain strict neutrality and pressed anti-corruption agencies to arrest and prosecute vote buyers.
It also appealed to political parties to publicly reject vote trading and called on voters to resist inducements and protect the value of their votes.
Finally, Yiaga Africa urged INEC, civil society organisations, traditional rulers, religious leaders and the media to intensify voter education and mobilisation efforts, particularly among women, youths, persons with disabilities and rural communities, ahead of Saturday’s poll.
