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By Luminous Jannamike, Abuja

The Nigerian Women Trust Fund, NWTF, has urged the Independent National Electoral Commission to ensure the February 25 and March 11 elections are free, fair and credible.

This is as the organisation launched its situation room initiative, known as Gender and Election Watch (GEW), to gather information and carry out analysis on women’s participation in the elections in comparison to men.

Speaking at a pre-election briefing in Abuja on Friday, Chief Executive Officer of the organisation, Mufuliat Fijabi, said the nation and even, the international community was counting on INEC to deliver elections that would reflect the will of the people.

She said, “NWTF GEW hereby urges that INEC poll officials should demonstrate fairness, maintain professionalism and due process in the discharge of their duties.

“Also, that INEC should maintain its statutory level of preparedness and ensure early opening of polls.”

Fijabi also appealed to the security agencies to perform their duties without militarising and intimidating the voters especially women on election day.

Meanwhile, she explained that the organisation’s GEW would assess all critical components of the electoral processes for action and advisory towards a more vibrant democratic governance in the country.

To this end, Fijabi said GEW has deployed 400 accredited observers across the six geopolitical zones of Nigeria and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) for the Presidential and National Assembly elections scheduled for 25 February 2023 and the Governorship and State Assembly elections scheduled for 11 March 2023.

According to her, the observers will monitor and assess how all elements of the election process impact all stakeholders from a gender perspective.

“NWTF through its use of an electronic gender-based checklist will watch and harvest critical data on the participation of women and other vulnerable groups in this election and will carry out its analysis based on the Electoral Act (2022) as amended.

“Additionally, NWTF’s GEW Room will closely observe the election day performance of voters, candidates, and poll officials from a gender perspective,” she stressed.