The Executive Director of Yiaga Africa, Samson Itodo, has raised concerns over vote buying and alleged intimidation of election observers in the ongoing Osun State governorship election, warning that the developments could undermine the peaceful conduct of the poll.
Itodo, who gave the assessment on Saturday, however, described the voting process across the state as largely peaceful and seamless.
According to him, Yiaga Africa’s representative sample showed that voting had commenced in 79 per cent of the polling units where the organisation deployed observers.
He added that by 9:30 a.m., accreditation and voting had commenced in 97 per cent of the polling units monitored by the organisation.
Itodo commended the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for the early opening of polling units, particularly in view of logistical challenges associated with a late court judgment.
“In the polling units we have visited, the process is seamless and peaceful. The people are here, and security agencies have also been deployed,” he said.
He, however, identified vote buying as one of the major concerns observed during the election.
“The major issue we have been observing across the state is the incidence of vote buying. In the polling units where we have visited, we have seen voters openly revealing how they voted. In some cases, voters are not exposing their votes,” he said.
Itodo said the development was one of the critical incidents recorded so far, stressing that the overall process had remained largely peaceful.
He, however, expressed concern about the next stage of the election, particularly the collation of results, which he described as critical to the credibility of the exercise.
“We are now going into a critical stage of this election, which is the collation of results. That is where we are very, very concerned that things might go wrong,” he said.
The Yiaga Africa director also raised concerns over reports of intimidation of election observers by party agents, describing such conduct as unacceptable.
He said observers had an important role to play in ensuring the credibility of the electoral process and should be protected by security agencies.
“When party agents decide to intimidate people who have come to perform their civic duty, it is not acceptable,” Itodo said.
He disclosed that one of Yiaga Africa’s partner organisations had reported that its observer was allegedly intimidated by a party agent and chased away about 40 minutes after being deployed to observe the election.
He urged security agencies to ensure adequate protection for observers and prevent party agents from interfering with their duties.
Itodo also noted that the election followed a highly competitive campaign characterised in some instances by violence and inflammatory rhetoric by political actors.
He commended the security agencies for their professionalism so far, urging them to maintain neutrality throughout the voting and collation processes.
He said Yiaga Africa would continue to monitor the election and provide updates on developments across the state.
