By Gift Olivia Samuel, The Sight News
ADO-EKITI: The Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room (Situation Room), has strongly condemned the act of vote buying that was witnessed in the just concluded Ekiti Governorship Election which took place Saturday, June 18, 2022.
The Situation Room which is made up of over 70 Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), noted that the ability of Ekiti politicians to make light of such a grave violation as vote trading which was described as “See and Buy”, is most unfortunate.
Briefing Journalists of its field reports from observers and network partners in Ekiti on Sunday, Co-convener Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room, James Ugochukwu, however noted that the widespread presence of security personnel did not deter vote trading.
He also condemned the several videos that were shared on social media of young voters displaying the money collected for their votes.
He stated that, “Situation Room observed that the issue of vote buying and selling has continued unabatedly. This follows a familiar pattern of similar incidences across the country, and in particular, the 2014 Governorship election in Ekiti State.
“Security officials deployed for the election were diverse and cut across the Police, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), etc. The Situation Room notes that security officials arrived at the polling units on time and were civil in their conduct. However, the widespread presence of the Security personnel did not deter vote trading.
“Situation Room commends EFCC for the arrests of suspected persons involved in vote buying and hopes that these cases will lead to prosecution if the evidence is found to be germane”, he said.
Speaking further on the election, he explained that INEC’s strategy of voters’ redistribution failed to address the problem of over concentration of voters in some polling units.
“A glaring example was the situation at Surajudeen School, Ado Dallimore (Ward 9), Ado Ekiti LGA, which had about five thousand registered voters shared between just two polling units. Some of the voters complained that their request for transfer of registration to their preferred polling units was not approved before this exercise.
“Several of the polling units were sited in private residences and compounds in Ekiti State contrary to claims by INEC that the Commission had moved polling units to public spaces during its “Expansion of Voters Access to Polling Units Exercise” in 2021.
“We hope that INEC will properly address this lingering issue going into the 2023 General Elections”, he remarked.
Situation Room, while commending the people of Ekiti State for their peaceful conduct throughout the voting process as well as the voter turnout, called on them to continue to collect the remaining Permanent Voters Cards before the general election.
