The Gender and Election Watch (GEW), an initiative of the Nigerian Women Trust Fund (NWTF), says it has deployed personnel to observe women’s participation in Saturday’s Ekiti gubernatorial election.

This is contained in a statement by Mufuliat Fijabi, Chief Executive Officer, GEW,  on Friday in Abuja.

Ms Fijabi said that the intention was to appraise the participation of women during the election.

“The GEW, an initiative of the Nigerian Women Trust Fund and a member of the Nigerian Civil Society Situation room is in Ekiti to observe the  governorship election scheduled for Saturday from a gender angle.

“This strategic initiative has been put in place to gather information and carry out analysis about women’s participation in the Ekiti election in comparison to men.

“To this end NWTF GEW has deployed accredited and citizen observers across the 16 Local Government Areas of Ekiti for the election.

“They are to observe and assess how all elements of the election process can affect women in general,” she said.

According to her, the group will also focus on the preparedness of the Independence National Electoral Commission (INEC), and the level of readiness of women to participate in the election.

She said that there would also be a close assessment against the background of the Electoral Act 2022 as amended.

“The NWTF GEW Room will also be observing the conduct of all relevant stakeholders from a gender aspect,” she said.

She said that of the 16 governorship candidates in the state, only two are women, while seven females are deputy governorship candidates.

“This is a pointer to the extent of inclusion of women in Ekiti governorship election,” she said.

She added that the situation in the state was calm with reports of high enthusiasm by the electorate.

“INEC ’s distribution of sensitive materials is steady and under control” she said. 

(NAN)