By Okey Ndiribe, Abuja
A civil society group has pledged to deploy 834 observers to monitor the Adamawa State governorship election scheduled to hold today.

This pledge was made in Abuja yesterday by the  First Co-Chairman of Project Swift Count Dafe Akpedeye (SAN) while briefing newsmen about the group’s preparations for the poll. He also stated that Project Swiftcount was a coalition of several other groups in the country, including the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA), the Federation of Muslim Women’s Associations in Nigeria (FOMWAN), Justice Development and Peace Commission and Transition Monitoring Group (TMG).

Akpedeye explained that all the observers were trained last month by the group in 30 centres spread across the state. According to him: “The exercise was organized in order to ensure that the governorship election is adequately observed in line with PSC’s mission of building the confidence of voters in the election and promoting free, fair, peaceful and credible elections in Nigeria.”

Commenting on the method that would be used by the group for the exercise, he stated that the swift count methodology involves the use of representative sample of polling units.

“It also involves the use of information and communication technology (ICT) and statistical principles to enable observers to provide more representative and accurate information about the electoral process in real time to voters, political parties and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)” he said.

They further urged the people of the state to troop out in large numbers to cast their votes adding in doing so they should also conduct themselves in a manner that would not disrupt the electoral process.

According to a statement signed by both men: “ It is only in an atmosphere of peace and tranquility that the peoples vote would not only count but also their true choice would emerge.

In addition, it is only in such an atmosphere that the democratic ideals which the country is yearning for would be deeply rooted”.