ADO-EKITI, Nigeria — Nigeria’s electoral umpire has accredited 91 media outlets and 98 observer groups to monitor the upcoming governorship election in Ekiti State, officials have announced.
A total of 675 journalists will cover the vote, while thousands of observers will be deployed across the state to track the polling process.
The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Joash Amupitan, disclosed the figures during a stakeholders’ forum in the state capital, Ado-Ekiti, on Thursday. The meeting was attended by political parties, gubernatorial candidates, and heads of security agencies.
Prof. Amupitan stated that the accredited observer groups consist of 96 domestic organizations and two international bodies.
“This is democracy opening its doors and inviting scrutiny,” the INEC chairman said, pledging the commission’s full cooperation with the press and monitors. He assured them of unhindered access within a secure election environment.
However, Prof. Amupitan cautioned the observer groups to maintain strict neutrality and operate within their designated mandates.
“Your mandate is to observe, document, and report objectively, not to advocate, not to intimidate, and not to intervene in ways that exceed your accreditation,” he said, urging them to show “fidelity to fact.”
A test case for 2027
The Ekiti poll is one of Nigeria’s off-cycle governorship elections, which fall outside the general election cycle.
Prof. Amupitan described the vote in Ekiti—frequently referred to as the ‘Fountain of Knowledge’—as a “critical diagnostic waypoint on our structural roadmap toward the 2027 General Election.”
He stated that a comprehensive assessment of local government offices had been concluded, declaring that INEC is “logistically, technologically, and operationally prepared to deliver an election that will stand as an unassailable baseline of credibility.”
The chairman urged political actors to campaign with civility and called on voters to approach the polls with patriotism, promising that “every valid vote counts.”
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