The Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room has decried the trend of vote-buying during the Ondo State governorship election, held on Saturday.
In an interim statement on the election, the civil society organisation said its observers found that polling units opened early across the state.
It said that election officials and materials arrived early in 97 per cent of the polling units but noted that vote trading was persistent.
The civil society group said that a report from the Cleen Foundation observation hub revealed that security deployment for the election was adequate and proportionate to the number of polling units.
It reported: “Situation Room observers reported that security personnel arrived early at the polling units. The police, in particular, were present in 84 per cent of the polling unit observed at the official opening hour of polls, i.e., 8:30am.
“However, a policeman was observed attempting to influence voters’ choice in polling unit 15, ward 3 of Irele LGA, which culminated in conflict between accredited party agents.
“Also, the Kimpact Development Initiative mid-day report indicates that two incidents of violence have so far been tracked, none of which resulted in disruption of vote except in polling unit 3, ward 5 in Idanre LGA, where party supporters reported fired gunshots at the polling unit”.
Situation Room urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to ensure strict compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Act 2022 and its guidelines concerning the collation of election results.
The organisation noted that collation of results has been a recurring challenge for INEC in recent off-cycle governorship elections.
It said: “Situation Room welcomes the directive of the police authority that security of the collation centres will be headed by senior police officers, including assistant commissioners of police.
“We, therefore, expect a smooth and transparent collation process in this election. We commend the people of Ondo state for their peaceful conduct so far”.
