There’ll be serious trouble in 2019 if we don’t kill vote-buying in Osun - INEC
Olusegun Agbaje, resident electoral commissioner of the Independent
National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Osun state, says if vote-buying
is not killed in Saturday’s governorship election, the country is in
serious trouble in 2019.
He said this at a press conference at the INEC office in Osogbo, the state capital, on Friday.
Agbaje asked Osun voters to be patient enough to devote at least two minutes of their time without phones for the election.
He wondered why Nigerians would switch off their phones for six to 10
hours while travelling abroad and would not accuse the flight crew of
infringing on their fundamental human rights but would make the same
accusation against INEC for two minutes of voting.
Agbaje said the commission did not give out uncollected permanent voters card (PVC) to politicians as claimed by some people.
“The commission has put in place adequate preparation for the Osun state governorship election on Saturday,” he said.
“As we speak, I can confidently say that the commission is ready to make
the election a model that will be applauded by Nigerians and the
international community. Some of the things we have done include
intensive voters education and public enlightenment campaign;
stakeholders meeting and we have distributed non-sensitive materials to
the 30 local government areas.
“We have recruited 16,000 ad hoc staff from serving members of the
National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), students of the Federal
Polytechnic, Ede and Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife and staff of
federal establishments in Osun state.
“We have put in place adequate security arrangement for the peaceful
conduct of the election. There will be three security agents at each
polling units on election day as approved by the commission to maintain
law and order. Through a painstaking process that involved data
consolidation, automated fingerprint identification system, business
rules for PVC, CVR and transfers resulting into the registration 807,598
(48%) male and 874,897 (52%) female making a total of 1,682, 495
registered voters in Osun state.
“Then, we have issued 1,246,915 permanent voters cards (PVCs)
representing (74.14%) to registered voters at the end of the PVC
collection period on Spetember 19, leaving a total of 435,015 PVCs, that
is (25.86%) yet to be collected by their owners and are being kept in
the INEC strong room at the state office here in Osogbo.
“All of us have been talking and complaining about vote-buying and the
commission has put a strategy in place. We have a duty to protect the
integrity of our elections. Bringing phones and other photographic
devises is okay. INEC has benefited with what we have seen on social
media during elections. But once you collect our ballot paper, you are
now in our custody.
“Nigerians should be patient enough to give INEC two minutes of their
time, without snapping pictures. When you board a plane, they tell
people to switch off their phones and for about six to ten hours if you
are going to London or America, people don’t see it as fundamental human
rights abuse. But for two minutes that Nigerians will give to INEC,
people are saying we are infringing on their fundamental human rights.
“If we don’t kill vote-buying here in Osun tomorrow, we are in serious trouble in 2019.”
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