Nigeria Presidential Election : International Observers Omnipresent

Presidential election in Nigeria will soon be history after the proclamation of the results by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). After spending two consecutive days coordinating the voting exercise, compiling and transferring of results to the National Collation Centre, the different stakeholders involved in the smooth running of the electoral process might soon heave a sigh of relief. Amongst them are international observers. Compared to previous elections in the country, the number of international observers for the 2023 presidential election in Nigeria and the role they have been playing is commendable.
Since the start of the voting process, a total of 33 international organizations deploying 2,113 observers have been crisscrossing the different polling units in the 36 states and Federal Capital Territory to attest that everything on the field and collation centers is moving as planned. Their role as reiterated by the President of the Independent National Electoral Commission Mahmood Yakubu is not to interfere in the electoral process, but to monitor and make reports which after being endorsed by their various institutions, are sent to the INEC where they are exploited for better conduct of future elections in the country.
Prominent among these observers groups are, the African Union monitoring team headed by the former Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta. The 19-man-AU observers’ team that is highly visible in many cities like Abuja and Lagos is not in her first electoral mission to Nigeria. Commonwealth is also on the field with former South African President, Thabo Mbeki coordinating their activities. Since their arrival, observers from the ...