Women Lawyers, FIDA Urge Electoral Body, INEC To Consider People With Disabilities During Osun Election

The International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA) has appealed to the Independent National Electoral Commission to be concerned about how women and people with disabilities will exercise their franchise during Saturday’s gubernatorial election in Osun State.
The group made this call in a statement signed by Amina Suzanah Agbaje, the FIDA Nigeria National President, saying it had trained observers who would monitor and report on the electoral processes across the various local government areas of the state during the polls.

FIDA enjoined observers to conduct themselves creditably by remaining non-partisan as well as ensuring that their emotions were not clouded by sentiments whilst executing their roles as citizen observers across the selected Local Government Areas.
“FIDA calls on INEC to provide priority and be particular about persons with disabilities through enabling platforms as we count down to the Osun gubernatorial elections,” the statement reads in part.
“FIDA Nigeria will observe the participation of women and persons with disabilities at the polls through trained citizen observers deployed across the 30 Local Government Areas of Osun State.
“An election monitoring tool has been developed and our approach in observation will be both qualitative and quantitative as we will leverage on partnerships with other civil society actors in documenting election incidences promoting violence against women and persons with disabilities at the polls.”
“FIDA Nigeria citizen’s engagement will be made possible through the establishment of a situation room in Oshogbo, the Osun State capital, and our National Secretariat where our Data Analysts will be documenting and analysing findings from our citizen observers through the help of civic technology,” the statement added.