Ayobami Agboola 
Ahead of the 2024 Ondo Gubernatorial Election billed to hold on November 16, 2024, a Non-Governmental Organization known as the Justice, Development and Peace Makers’ Centre (JDPMC), Osogbo has deployed 16 Campaign Finance Trackers with 3 investigative Journalists across 18 Local Government Areas of State to track Campaign Finance expenditure of the major Political Parties and the use of State Administrative Resources by the ruling political party.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) announced November 16, this year for the conduct of the gubernatorial election in Ondo State.
Addressing the newsmen after the 2-Day training organized by the Justice, Development and Peace Makers’ Centre, Osogbo under the European Union Support to Democratic Governance in Nigeria (EU-SDGN) Phase II, the Project Manager, Mr Festus Ojewumi stressed that there is an urgent need to further strengthen Democracy in Nigeria by promoting electoral integrity thereby creating a level playing field for all Political Party Contestants irrespective of their Political Affiliations during the State gubernatorial election.
He stated further that “Past Experience had shown a high level of non-compliance to the Electoral Act by the Political Parties and candidates especially in the area of Campaign finance regulation and the use of state administrative resources by the incumbent which usually give birth to poor governance hence for the training’’
He expressed his optimism that the trained personnel have been well equipped to track various political campaign events like mega rallies, door-to-door campaigns, and Ward meetings. The trained trackers shall also track political campaign materials like billboards, and banners among others with the use of Parallel expense tracking methodology.
Reacting to the integrity of the trackers and the data that would be submitted, Festus assured the general public of well-articulated and well-verified reports both before and after the 2024 Ondo Governorship Election as the trackers had been well equipped with advanced technological tools such as mobile Application known as Just-Watcher to track the campaign finance process including other data quality assurance (DQA) methodologies which shall be carried out before, during and after the 2024 Ondo State governorship election.
