Ekiti2022: We observed high level vote-trading – CLEEN

Cleen Foundation, a Civil Society Organisation, said its officials observed vote-trading during the electoral process in the Saturday governorship election in Ekiti, as party agents were seen inducing voters in favour of their parties.

The foundation listed some polling units as PU 003, Ward D, Arokodare, Ijero LGA, and Ekiti-West LGA, PU 09, Ward 7 Ipole-Iloro.

“Party agents were seen inducing voters in favour of their parties, and tallies were handed over to them as a form of a cheque to be cashed out at an unidentified location.

“However, at PU 02 Ilawe, Ward 1, Ekiti-South West LGA, fighting broke out at the polling unit because voters rejected money from party thugs. A similar incident also occurred at PU 003, ward D in Ijero LGA,” Ruth Olofin, the acting executive director of the foundation, said in a statement.

Meanwhile, Ms Olofin commended the security personnel deployed for the election, particularly the Nigeria Police Force, for the conduct of its personnel before and during the electoral process.

“Our reports showed that 24 per cent of security personnel arrived at the polling units before 7:00 a.m. 69 per cent arrived before 8:00 a.m. while 7 per cent arrived after 8:00 a.m.,” she said.

She said that 69 per cent of the polling units had three or more presence of security personnel, 21 per cent of the polling units had two security personnel, nine per cent of the polling units had one security personnel and one per cent of the polling units had no security personnel at all.

Ms Olofin said 97 per cent of security personnel were observed to wear easily identifiable name tags, while three per cent were not wearing easily identifiable name tags.

Ms Olofin said the overall conduct of security personnel showed that 90 per cent of security personnel deployed on the Ekiti election duty were of good conduct.

She also commended the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for the noticeable improvement in the conduct of the election, especially with a near absence of logistics challenges that had remained a perennial issue for the electoral umpire.

“There was an improvement in the functionality of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) as it was observed to be widely used across all polling units.

“However, in Moba LGA, Igogo ward 2 PU 016; 017 and 018, the BVAS malfunctioned as both fingerprint, and facial recognition failed.

“In Ekiti East LGA, Ward 6, PU4, Obadore 1, Omuo-Ekiti, Ekiti East LGA and at Ikere, Ward 10, PU 14, all also had issues of BVAS malfunctioning. These were escalated to INEC and were all resolved,” she said.

She commended INEC for the priority given to the elderly, pregnant women and Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) in the electoral process.

(NAN)