Violence, voting buying may mar Edo guber poll – Yiaga Africa

Yiaga Africa, a civil society organisation, has raised the alarm that political actors may resort to voting buying and violence in Saturday’s gubernatorial in Edo State.

Aisha Abdullahi, chair of the 2024 Edo Election Mission Yiaga Africa, stated this during a pre-election press conference in Benin, the state capital on Thursday.

Yiaga stressed the need for relevant agencies, especially the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to address vote buying through decisive actions, including the arrest and prosecution of both buyers and sellers.

Abdullahi said three major political parties, the All Progressives Congress (APC) Labour Party (LP) and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) dominated the campaigns, noting that the campaigns, however, degenerated into a contest marked by personal attacks, character assassination, hate speeches and blame-game politics by the major contenders.

Abdullahi noted that the high rate of Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs) collection indicates a willingness among the electorate to participate in the election, she said factors like potential violence, economic hardship, and a deep-seated lack of confidence in the electoral process could deter voters from voting at the election.

According to her, “past elections in Edo State reflect this trend, with voter turnout declining from 32 percent in 2016 to 27 percent in 2020, making an 8 percent decrease.

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“Additionally, widespread disillusionment with political elite and persistent governance failures may further discourage voter participation.

“The campaign period was signposted with strongarm tactics and violence. The activities of cult groups and political thugs intensified amidst the proliferation of small and light arms.

“Yiaga Africa is concerned that politicians will tactically employ violence and intimidation to suppress voters in specific polling units and Local Government Areas.”

Abdullahi alleged that armed groups and political thugs may disrupt INEC’s deployment of election material or elections at the polling units to influence the outcome of the elections.

She identified eight local governments namely Ikpoba Okha, Oredo, Egor, Ovia South West, Ovia North East, Esan South East, Etsako West and Etsako East as hotspots for violence that required a strategic and neutral deployment of security forces.

She noted that as INEC begins the deployment of sensitive materials to various local government areas, it must coordinate effectively with the transport companies and unions responsible for logistics.

“This coordination is crucial for the timely deployment of materials not only to the Registration Area Centres, RACs but also to ensure early delivery of materials and personnel to polling units on election day,” he said.

According to her, “This will reverse the trend of late commencement of polls observed in previous elections in Edo State.”

She called on the transport unions not to exploit the hike in fuel prices to default on their contractual obligations with INEC and urged voters to demonstrate resilience by turning up to vote in the polling units.

She tasked the electorate to resist attempts to buy their votes by parties, as well as intimidation and manipulation before, during and after the election.