OsunDecides: CTA tasks INEC, security agencies on peaceful, credible poll

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*deploys 60 observers, warns politicians against heating up polity

By Michael Oche

Election observer group, the Centre for Transparency Advocacy, has urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as well as security agencies to ensure that Saturday’s governorship election in Osun state is credible and violent free.

The group also urged political actors to ensure that their actions and words do not trigger violence and heat up the polity unnecessarily before and after the election on Saturday.

Executive director of CTA, Faith Nwadishi made the call while declaring open the group’s situation room for the election in Osogbo, the Osun State capital.

She said though there is a seemingly peaceful atmosphere so far in the state, there are, however, a few identified flash points where security agencies are expected to beam their searchlight and curtail any threat to security.

She listed the areas that have been identified as flash points to include: Ife Central, Ife South, Ife East, Ilesa East and West, Ede North and South, Iwo, and some parts of Osogbo LGA.

Nwadishi urged citizens to be peaceful as they come out on Saturday to vote for candidates of their choice, saying that it is the group’s belief that a collective resolve of the citizens to do the right things will be a boost to the nation’s democracy.

The CTA boss noted the incremental progress recorded by INEC at every election, explaining that there have been noticeable steady progress from Anambra Governorship Election to the recently concluded Ekiti State Governorship Election where results were collated, and a winner declared in less than twenty-four hours.

“This is commendable, and we hope that Osun State will be better,” she said

Nwadishi said her group will be deploying 60 trained observers across the 30 LGAs of Osun State on Saturday. It is expected that they will rely on the skills and knowledge acquired from the training to report factually and in real time to the CTA Situation Room.

She urged INEC to ensure that the coordination and delivery of the Osun election should be taken a notch higher than the just concluded Ekiti election, adding that its personnel to be deployed are trained properly on the use of the BVAS machines to ensure free, fair, credible inclusive, and conclusive governorship election.

She said, “Citizens must shun vote trading. It is only where there is a willing buyer that there is a willing seller.

“We call on parents and youths not to allow themselves to be used as political thugs to disrupt peaceful conduct of the election.”

Nigerian Pilot reports that 15 political parties will be presenting candidates to seek for the mandate and votes of the citizens across the 30 Local Government Areas, 332 wards and 3,763 polling units.

There are about 1,955,657 registered voters in Osun state. Out of this number, 1,479,595 representing 76 percent of registered voters have collected their PVCs as at 10/7/2022 according to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).