Follow Us on Google
From Fred Itua, Abuja
Ahead of Saturday’s presidential and National Assembly elections, the National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies (NILDS), said it has dispatched about 359 election monitors to the 36 States of the Federation.
The revelation was made on Friday in Abuja, when NILDS and Westminster Foundation for Democracy, briefed newsmen at its Political Party Watch Command Centre.
Director-General of NILDS, Prof. Abubakar Sulaiman, represented by the Director, Democracy and Governance, Prof. Adewale Aderemi, said the elections will be monitored live.
“We’ll deploy nine observers each to every state and the Federal Capital Territory. We will be observing the participation of youths, women and children with disabilities across the country,” he noted
Speaking on strengthening political parties, he said: “We want to know what they’ve been given and how political parties have carried them along. We need to understand that. We will also have a situation room where we’ll be monitoring the elections. We will be watching out for inclusive participation of some Nigerians.
“The preliminary findings of our research had informed us to develop the activities to focus on so we can know the level of participation. We will look at inclusive activities of the 18 political parties. We want to have a report that’s factual and speaks to the issues.
“Our drive is to strengthen the political parties’ system. In doing this, we will have a fighting chance of sustaining our democracy. We want to seek the inclusive participation of our political parties. This is part of a larger project we’re working on.”
Ends…
Hakuna Matata!
Fred Itua,
Senior Political Correspondent,
The Sun Newspaper,
Abuja, Nigeria.
+2348036983211
“To thine own self, be true!”~~ William Shakespeare.
