Osun Guber Poll Marred By Violence, Irregularities, Vote-buying – EU Observer Hub

The European Union Support to Democratic Governance in Nigeria Election Observation Hub (EU-SDGN EOH) said that violent acts and irregularities marred Saturday’s off-cycle governorship election in Osun State.

The hub said in a statement on Saturday that there were over 38 reported security incidents and 323 electoral offences and irregularities across the 726 polling units monitored.

The Hub, comprising the Centre for Media and Society (CEMESO), the International Press Centre (IPC), the Nigerian Women Trust Fund (NWTF), TAF Africa, The Kukah Centre (TKC) and Yiaga Africa, deployed 823 accredited observers across polling units in all 30 local government areas to monitor the election, which was contested by 15 candidates.

In the preliminary report, the Hub said: “Of 2,339,233 registered voters, 1,906,390, representing 81.50 per cent, had collected their Permanent Voters Cards and were eligible to vote”.

Regarding the security incidents, the Hub reported 25 cases of thuggery, 12 attacks on electoral officials and 9 cases of voter intimidation by security personnel.

The hub said, “It separately recorded 323 cases of electoral offences across the polling units observed, including 103 cases of vote trading, 85 cases of exposure of ballot papers, 31 cases of obstruction of voters, 38 cases of campaigning at polling units, 28 cases of inducement of polling and security officials, 14 cases of voter impersonation, 12 cases of multiple voting and 7 cases of misconduct by election officials.”

It noted that the figures do not correspond to 323 individual polling units, as multiple offences were recorded at some locations.

The Hub also identified specific cases of voter intimidation by security agents at PU 29-10-10-005, Igbon District Council School, Ejigbo, and PU 29-30-06-015, opposite No. 22 Oke Ola Street, Okanla Area, Osogbo.

“During the accreditation process, 608 of 726 observed polling units, or 83.7 per cent, had polling officials with a full complement of both sensitive and non-sensitive materials between 7:30am and 8:00 am. A further 75 polling units opened between 8:00am and 8:30am, and 42 between 8:30 am and 11:00am, while one polling unit remained unopened as of 11:00am due to the non-arrival of personnel and materials.”

There were reports that the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System devices malfunctioned in the polling units observed, of which 41 were later addressed as accreditation resumed.

The Hub described voter turnout as impressive, with women accounting for about 59 percent of turnout in observed polling units and more than 70 percent among persons with disabilities at 12 designated PWD-friendly polling units. Women made up 36 percent of deployed polling officials.