YIAGA Africa, a non-governmental organisation has organised a media roundtable for the success of the Bayelsa State governorship election to be held on November 16.
Our correspondent reports that YIAGA’s sole responsibility is to monitor elections with the aim to promote democratic principles in Africa.
The leader of the group, Cynthia Mbamalu, said on Friday that the organisaion was ready to partner and engage the media in the promotion of peaceful and credible elections.
She noted that YIAGA AFRICA would deploy accredited observers to all the polling units in the Local Government Areas of the state to provide accurate and timely information on the electoral process.
According to her, YIAGA AFRICA is a non-partisan and an independent organisation that is guided by the electoral laws and guidelines of the country and works toward the promotion of accountability, social justice and credible elections.
She said that the NGO had deployed 21 long term observers who could also cover the various activities of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
“Without the media, the people will not be informed and the masses cannot hold public office holder accountable.
“We will ensure that the media will be informed whenever we observe any abnormalities among the political party and INEC,” she said.
In her speech, the Chairperson of Nigeria Association of Women Journalist (NAWOJ) in Bayelsa, Mrs Marie Oluma, said that most of the observers were not always free to share information with them.
She, therefore, appealed to them to always be open with journalist; by informing them on what they have observed during and after the process of voting.
Our correspondent reports that YIAGA AFRICA is an electoral monitoring group nick named ‘WATCHING THE VOTE PROJECT’, which entails systematic observation of the electoral process to promote electoral integrity and eventually boost the people’s confidence.