2023 Polls: More Pressure on APC, PDP, LP, Others As CODE Announces Deployment of 20,000 Election Observers

• Preparations have reached a fever pitch less than nine days before the general elections
• Electoral stakeholders are on the verge of implementing action plans to oversee electoral processes
• Civil society group Connected Development (CODE) is treading on this path after announcing the deployment of 20,000 observers for the 2023 polls

FCT, Abuja - Nigeria's leading civil society group, Connected Development (CODE), has announced that it will deploy 20,000 observers across the 36 states for the 2023 polls.

This announcement was made on Wednesday, February 15, at the Transcorp Hilton Abuja during the launch of its latest digital election observation portal called "Uzabe".

Speaking at the media parley, the Chief Executive Director of CODE Hamzat Lawal disclosed that these 20,000 observers would serve as sources and intel for the updates that would feature on the "Uzabe" election observation platform and will, in turn, be accessible to electoral stakeholders and citizens.

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He disclosed that CODE had been a pioneer of election observation for over a decade, dating back to its first electoral observation in Kenya before kicking off in Nigeria.

Mr Lawal said:

"We started election observation over a decade ago, and we started election observation in Kenya deploring 'Ushakusi' before we started 'Uzabe' in Nigeria."

When asked by Legit.ng about the readiness of the 20,000 observers sate to be deployed, he said:

"We've adequately trained our 20,000 observers. If you follow our work for the past 11 years, you'll know that our platform 'Follow the Money' have over 35,000 active users."

"And these are active citizens giving financial data information to inform policies and tackle corruption."

When asked about the funding of these 20,000 observers, he noted that they were strictly volunteers who were well-trained and informed about active citizenship.

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"Sadly, we would have loved to provide them (Observers) with some level of support, but we don't have funding for this.

"So this deployment is Connected Development (CODE) commitment to Nigeria's democracy."

2023: Yiaga Africa Train, Deploy 882 Long Term Observers To Observe Pre-Election Environment

In another development, preparations are ongoing ahead of the crucial general elections slated for February 2023.

The foremost electoral observer group, Yiaga Africa, on Wednesday, November 16, announced that it had deployed its observers across the federation.

These observers are expected to monitor and report threats of electoral ills like voter inducement, violence, and a host of others.

2023: 25 Emerging Political Leaders Trained on Leadership Management, Meet Hamzat Lawal

Meanwhile, ahead of the 2023 general elections, 25 emerging political leaders have been trained by the the Emerging Political Leaders Fellowship (EPLF).

As part of the progamme's mentorship series, the beneficiaries met with prominent activist, Hamzat Lawal in Abuja.

Lawal, chief executive of Connected Development, is a member of the technical advisory council for EPLF.

Source: Legit.ng