Osun guber: CSO wants INEC to probe alleged late-night voting in two LGAs

One of the groups of accredited observers for the July 16 governorship poll in Osun Statehas called for a probe by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) over alleged infractions in certain places during the election.

 In its report forwarded to the commission, the civil society group called Northern Patriotic Front (NPF) alleged late-night voting in Ede South and Ede North local governments.

The group called on INEC to investigate the allegation in a bid to forestall such an occurrence in the future.

It claimed that security was relaxed in some parts of Ede, because, according to the CSO “Between Sekona roundabout and Edunabon, there were no checking points nor patrol of any security personnel in that axis.”

In the 18-page report signed by its Administrative Secretary, Rasheed Shuaib, a copy of which he said had been submitted to INEC, the CSO also alleged vote-buying in some of the polling units its members visited, urging Nigerians not to leave the fight against the ugly trend to CSOs and the anti-graft agencies alone.

It equally accused security operatives of compromise in some of the polling units its members visited.

“In some of the polling units visited by our members, the security agents were seen to be compromised by some of the political parties.

“In some of the polling units, there are separate queues of male and female. Two BVAS were deployed to some of the polling units visited with less than 800 registered voters while in some other polling units with the same number of registered voters, one BVAS was deployed,” the group noted.

On the late-night voting, the CSO noted,  “According to the electoral guidelines, the official close of voting at polling units is 2:30 pm.

” In most of the polling units visited and as reported by the NPF observers, voting was concluded at various polling units across the State by 2:30 pm in accordance with the electoral law as amended 2022.

“However, this was not followed in some of the polling units in Ede axis where voting was still going on till around 9:00 pm. This is clearly against the provision of the Electoral Act. This anomaly was also reported by some other observer groups’ analyses in the media.

“The conduct of election in Ede South and Ede North areas should be investigated to assist the commission in preventing admitting voters to queue after the stipulated time,” the group said.

The two local government areas, where late-night voting occurred are strongholds of the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Ademola Adeleke, who eventually won the election.

Ismail Omipidan, the spokesperson to Governor Adegboyega Oyetola, the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) during an interview on Channels Television a day after the election, had also decried late-night voting witnessed in the two local government areas under reference.