ActionAid Raises Security, Low Awareness Concerns Ahead of Enugu LG Poll

By Zainab Uzomah|Abuja

ActionAid Nigeria has raised concerns over security and low public awareness as Enugu State prepares for its local government elections scheduled for Saturday, September 26, 2026.

The organisation said it is deploying observers across the state in partnership with the South Saharan Development Organisation (SSDO) and the Justice Development and Peace Commission (JDPC) to monitor the elections and receive reports from local government areas and wards.

In a preliminary statement signed by its Country Director, Andrew Mamedu, ActionAid said the election would be the first statewide poll ahead of the 2027 general elections, making it an important test of public confidence in Nigeria’s electoral process.

It noted that security concerns, particularly in rural communities and along intra-LGA routes, remained sensitive, while preliminary observations indicated that public awareness of the election was low across the state.

ActionAid said it would assess the conduct of the election in areas including voter turnout, security personnel, distribution of election materials, opening of polling units, accessibility for persons with disabilities, knowledge of procedures among ad hoc staff, vote trading and the transparency of the collation process.

The organisation said the Enugu State Independent Electoral Commission (ENSIEC) had reported 90 per cent operational readiness and planned to move non-sensitive materials ahead of election day to the respective council headquarters.

Eleven political parties were screened to participate in the election across the 17 local government areas and 260 councillorship positions, while seven parties signed a multi-party peace accord.

ActionAid called on security agencies to remain politically neutral, deploy adequate personnel to rural and hard-to-reach communities and adopt a risk-based and intelligence-led approach to election security.

It also urged political parties and candidates to discourage violence and intimidation among their supporters and respect the rights of voters, opponents and other electoral stakeholders.

The organisation asked ENSIEC to provide timely and transparent information on the movement of election materials, polling locations affected by security concerns and any changes to electoral arrangements.

It urged citizens to participate peacefully and exercise their right to vote for candidates of their choice.

ActionAid said it had established a technical room to receive and analyse real-time reports from accredited field observers and escalate critical incidents to relevant authorities.

The technical room, it said, would remain operational until the conclusion of the local government elections.