An observer group, Yiaga Africa on Thursday raised concern over the large number of the security agencies deployed to monitor Osun governorship election without detailed report on the electoral offenders.
The Executive Board member, Yiaga Africa, Mr Ezenwa Nwagwu, stated this at post Election stakeholders meeting with Civil Society Organizations CSOs and media practitioners among others, held in Osogbo, Osun State Capital.
Nwagwu noted that there is provision in the law to punish vote buyers and sellers, ballot boxes snatchers among other offenders who were arrested during the poll.
According to him, if the security agencies are unable to arrest and prosecute any offender for vote buying and selling, otherwise known as bribery, there should be questions to ask for deploying 21,000 police men, 11,000 Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps (NSCDC), State Security Service and Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC)in the just concluded election.
He however said that the group met with the stakeholders who participated in the electioneering process in the state to know where to be improved on in future elections.
He stressed that the recommendations of the organization in the past have brought improvement to electioneering process in Nigeria.
He charged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to prevent people from multiple voting in the name of transfer of voters cards through BVAS.
According to him, “We come from the pre-election to election day and post-election. If we engage partners, we also want to be able to continue to have that relationship with them. The recommendations that come from these can go to INEC and can go to security agencies.
“Osun election has been won, lost and the verdict is already out there. But more importantly is to see how can we put a mirror before us as people who participated in what are we seeing in them.
“It is our interventions that have brought us to the point where we are seeing those little changes and if we continue will improve more for the betterment of our country.
Meanwhile, the chairman of the Nigerian Union of Journalists, Comrade Wasiu Ajadosu commended Yiaga Africa, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), and all critical stakeholders for their Peaceful Conduct during the poll.
Ajadosu charged INEC not to see the Osun election as a perfect process, urging them to keep on improving on the election process in the country.
However, the president of Network of NGO in Osun state, Comrade Michael Oluseyi who commended security agencies for their professional conduct said INEC should look at the issue of vote buying and selling in the future election.
