The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has been called upon to proactively curtail technical manipulation activities in order to curb vote buying in the forthcoming governorship election in Osun State. The call was made by a coalition of Civic Society Organisations (CSOs).
The body condemned what it called ‘unprecedented vote buying’ that characterised the just concluded governorship election in Ekiti State, and pointed out that the 2023 general elections could be exposed to dangers of massive rigging if the leadership of INEC did not do anything.
This was the contain of a joint statement by the Chairman of the National Consultative Front (NCF), Prof Pat Utomi; Convener, Civil Society Committee for Anti-Fraud Election Security (CISCAES), Mr. Kennedy Iyere and Coordinator, Peace Action Transformation, Mr. Adegboyega Adeniji. The statement said the coalition was largely on ground “to monitor and to observe the Ekiti elections. It boldly returned the verdict that the Ekiti elections left much to be desired.
“It has become imperative to review the alarm of the authenticated assertions by CISCAES which reinforced those of other observers and “that the recently conducted Ekiti governorship poll was marked with massive fraudulent practices.”
It insisted that vote-buying and technical manipulations of the voting process by INEC Officials was rampant, saying it was very imperative “to initiate proactive anti-fraud interventions ahead of the forthcoming Osun 2022 Guber-Poll, which will be held on Saturday July 16.
“CISCAES is taking the responsibility to alert the generality of Nigerians and the international community that unless proactive preventive measures are adopted to forestall fraudulent practices, it has become predictable that the Osun 2022 guber-poll will inevitably be rigged just like the Ekiti poll.
“As Nigerians, we must do everything within our means to protect the voting processes of the Osun 2022 Guber-Poll from being hijacked and manipulated by the power that be. It could turn out to become uncontainable if we carelessly allow a repeat in the Osun Guber-Poll the same fraud that was perpetrated in the Ekiti Guber Poll.”
The statement reads in part: “In such a case, the worst hit would be the 2023 general elections will then be vulnerable to the dangers of massive rigging. “Consequently, Nigerians, both home and in diaspora, as well as members of the international community must kick-start a thorough monitoring of the electoral process of the Osun governorship election. This process shall be kick-started with a World Press Conference, scheduled to hold on July 11.
“The proposed World Press Conference is designed to announce and herald the various anti-fraud action plans aimed to execute activities which will make it difficult or impossible to rig the Osun governorship election. It is pertinent to note that various CSOs are collaborating to host this significant World Press Conference on Osun 2022 Guber-Poll Ballot Security coordinated by CISCAE and with backup of 40 million Ballots Movement.
“Also, the post-conference execution together with the implementation of the recommended anti-fraud interventions shall jointly be executed by the intervening and collaborating CSOs,” the statement said.
