The European Union has announced the deployment of 687 observers across Anambra State for Saturday’s governorship election under its Support to Democratic Governance in Nigeria (EU-SDGN) programme.
In a statement released on Thursday, November 6, in Abuja, the EU said the observers were drawn from its civil society partners, who are working to strengthen peacebuilding, promote gender and disability inclusion, counter misinformation, and build public confidence in the electoral process.
According to the statement, seven of the 16 implementing partners under the EU-SDGN programme, including the Kukah Centre, Yiaga Africa, International Press Centre, Centre for Media and Society, Nigeria Women Trust Fund, ElectHER, and TAF Africa, are already operating in the state.
“The key feature of this unified deployment is to obtain a broad view of the election by utilising the diverse skills and experience of the EU-SDGN partners, analysing the findings, and compiling them into a comprehensive report that will be made public and available to all stakeholders,” the EU said.
“In total, the programme is deploying 687 observers across Anambra State, working in coordinated clusters that cover election integrity, disability inclusion, gender participation, peacebuilding, media and misinformation tracking, logistics observation, and real-time data reporting.
“This is one of the most extensive civil society-led observer deployments ever recorded for a state election in Nigeria.”
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The EU explained that each observer cluster would collect evidence from different perspectives, with findings to be merged into a single verifiable report.
Observers will monitor thematic areas including election integrity and results verification, disability inclusion with sign language interpreters, women’s participation, misinformation tracking by journalists and fact-checkers, peacebuilding, conflict prevention, and logistics related to sensitive election materials.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has declared full readiness for the election scheduled for Saturday, November 8, across 5,718 wards in Anambra State.
INEC Chairman, Prof. Joash Amupitan, said at a stakeholders’ meeting in Awka that about 24,000 ad hoc staff will be deployed, while 540 journalists have been accredited to cover the exercise.
He affirmed that the commission remains committed to credible and inclusive elections.
Sixteen candidates from 16 political parties will contest the election, including incumbent Governor Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, who is seeking reelection on the platform of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA).