Osun Polls: Group Commends INEC’s Electoral Performance, Decries Incessant Voter Inducement

Osun, Osogbo - Following the conclusion of the much anticipated Osun state gubernatorial polls, an election observer group, Justice, Development and Peace Makers Centre (JDPMC) have released its post-election report.

According to the report made available to Legit.ng on Sunday, July 17, the group commended the independent electoral commission (INEC) for its improvement in the organization and execution of the election.

As contained in the post-election report, JDPMC said "the effective procedure of INEC has returned the power of voting to the people."

Voter inducement rampant during Osun guber polls, says JDPMC

However, the report also noted cases of voter inducement as a major shortcoming during the course of the election.

Read also

Nigeria's main opposition party has won the governorship election in southwest Osun state, the electoral commission said on Sunday, in a major upset to President Muhammadu Buhari's ruling All Progressives Congress.

The group said vote-buying was prevalent in most of the polling units across the state where its electoral observers were stationed.

The report says:

"Incidents of vote buying were recorded in 75 out of 76 polling units that JDPMC observed. When the voter inducer alleged to be an agent of APC arrived in Ward 10 Polling Unit 23 of Egbedore LGA, he was resisted by voters. The incident was followed within minutes by an attempt by a thug to disrupt the voting process. This was brought under control by the security agents.

"Voter inducement ranged between N4,000 and N10,000 in the case of APC and between N3,000 and N5,000 in the case of PDP. It was observed that almost all the contesting political party’s agents were well disposed and participated in acts of voters’ inducement. The methods involved giving tallies to voters or writing down their names after voting and directing them to locations away from the Polling Units where they were paid."

The group however lauded the efforts of other relevant stakeholders like the security operatives, and the ministry of women affairs for playing a huge part in the electoral process of the Osun state gubernatorial polls.

Source: Legit.ng