• Thursday, March 28, 2024
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Political thugs, voter inducement threat to credible poll in Osun- Yiaga Africa

Political thugs, voter inducement threat to credible poll in Osun- Yiaga Africa

An election monitoring group, Yiaga Africa, has warned that activities of political thugs and cultists may pose threat to the peaceful and credible conduct of the July 16, 2022 governorship election in Osun State if not contained.

The group also cited voter inducement, pointing to the distribution of money, gifts and food items to induce voters by political parties and candidates ahead of the election.

Yiaga Africa has been observing the Osun pre-election environment since April 2022, trained and deployed 32 long-term observers (LTO) to the 30 LGAs to observe the pre-election environment until July 14, 2022.

Briefing journalists on Yiaga Africa’s pre-election observation for Osun governorship election in Osogbo on Wednesday, Cynthia Mbamalu, director of programmes, Yiaga Africa also said there were attempts by some political mercenaries to manipulate the process right from the pre-election stage.”

She said, “The major political parties have intensified their campaigns deploying both legal and illegal antics in an attempt to win the race to the government house. The Osun election is, however, beyond the contest for the office of the governor as the political parties compete tough in a last-ditch effort to gain a strong impetus going into the crucial 2023 general elections.

Read also: ‘Sorosoke generation’ interest in voting surges

“With barely 10 days to the Osun governorship election, the political and security atmosphere has remained tensely unpredictable with the security agency describing every local government area as a potential flashpoint. Yiaga Africa’s pre-election reports have revealed the activities of cultists and political thugs in some local government areas as capable of threatening the peaceful and credible conduct of the election, if not contained.”

Mbamalu further said that Yiaga Africa feels concerned about the uncouth and unguarded utterances by some political actors, most especially the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the main opposition party, People’s Democratic Party (PDP), in the state in their efforts to woo voters.

According to her, “there is no doubt that these desperate utterances by major actors going into the election demonstrate a lack of caution and sportsmanship. This is capable of not just intimidating prospective voters but also inflaming the political environment, if not checked. We call on these actors, especially the APC and PDP to exercise restraint and advise their supporters to play by the rules.”

Also speaking, a board member of Yiaga Africa, Ezenwa Nwagwu who said there were indicators of voter inducement, noted that the distribution of money, gifts, and food items to induce voters by political parties and candidates featured throughout the pre-election campaign period.