Naira scarcity may increase vote buying, Yiaga Africa warns
civil society, Yiaga Africa, has warned the untold economic hardship caused by the recent scarcity of new naira notes may force Nigerians into relinquishing their votes in exchange for cash.
The Board Chairman of Yiaga Africa, Dr Hussaini Abdu, who stated this on in Abuja while presenting the group’s preliminary statement on the conduct of the presidential election process, regretted that the economic hardship may impact on citizens’ participation.
Abdu maintained that the untold economic hardship caused by the recent scarcity of new naira notes and perennial fuel scarcity has led to a series of protests in different parts of the country.
He said: “This growing discontent amongst citizens may lead to voter apathy in the form of “protest” which will eventually lead to low voter turnouts. We are also worried that citizens facing these forms of adversities going into the election may be unable to make informed choices at the polls.
“The current Naira redesign policy and scarcity of legal tender are aimed to fight vote trading on election day, the prevailing hardship it has come with may even make it easier for voters to relinquish their votes in exchange for the scarce currency.”
Acknowledging the existing security challenges of insurgency, banditry and kidnapping, Abdu said the prevailing security situation leading to the 2023 Presidential election has been further escalated by the tense political atmosphere.
He commended the political parties and candidates for signing the National Peace Accord and initiative of the National Peace Committee, headed by the former Head of State, General Abdulsalami Abubakar and called on the parties, candidates and their supporters to maintain the peace during and after the elections.
Executive Director of Yiaga Africa, Samson Itodo said the organisation will deploy 3,836 observers throughout the country for the presidential election.
“This is comprised of 3,014 stationary Parallel Vote Tabulation (PVT) observers deployed to a random representative statistical sample of 1,507 polling units; 822 roving observers across the 774 LGAs and 36 states; and 8 Working Group members who run real-time election analysis.
“Yiaga Africa will also deploy observers to the LGA and State Results Collation Centres in every state. Our observers will observe the entire election day process from set-up of the polling units through the announcement, posting of the official results and uploading of the polling units to the INEC Result Viewing Portal. The observers will send in periodic reports to the Watching the Vote National Data Centre located in the Transcorp Hilton in Abuja where they will be processed and analysed,” he said.
(Nation)
