Osun poll witnesses high turnout amid tight security

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There was high turnout on Saturday as residents of Osun State headed to their polling units to vote in the governorship election.
A high turnout was witnessed at many of the polling units visited across the three senatorial districts of the South-West state.
A heavy security cordon was also thrown on the state with the massive deployment of policemen as well as other security agencies while soldiers were sighted on the outskirts of the state capital.
There are 3,010 Polling Units and 755 Polling Points spread across the three senatorial districts and 30 local governments areas of the state.

Although INEC registered a total of 1,682,495 voters, some 400,000 Permanent Voters Cards remained uncollected as at  Friday.
Although  48 parties are participating in the election, the frontline candidates are Gboyega Oyetola of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Ademola Adeleke of the Peoples Democratic Party and Iyiola Omisore of the Social Democratic (SDP).
Accreditation and voting commenced about 8 am simultaneously across many polling units
In  Osogbo, the state capital, many of the residents had trooped to their polling units as early as 6.am.
At Osunbukola Ward 10 Unit 003 Polling Unit in Egbedore, more than 300 voters were sighted on the queue while accreditation and voting commenced about 8.10am.

There were also some policemen and NSCDC personnel at the polling unit.
The Accreditation Officer at the unit, Mashood Samson, said that the exercise has been hitch-free with the card readers working perfectly.
An official of the Transition Monitoring Group, Dr Abiola Afolabi, said the exercise in the units visited so far has been orderly.
At the Ward 5 Unit 1 Polling Unit in Osogbo Local Government, more than 300 voters were on the queue for accreditation and voting which started at 8.10.am.

An international observer from the National Democratic Institute who simply identified herself as Miss Courtney said the exercise so far had been transparent, an assessment corroborated by Busayo Soyebi of the Centre for Transparent Advocacy.
At the Osogbo Polling Unit 2 Ward 5 inside Osogbo Grammar School, no fewer than 200 voters were sighted waiting to be accredited.
The exercise was orderly while five policemen and one NSCDC official were sighted keeping vigil.
In Iragbiji, the hometown of the APC candidate, Gboyega Oyetola, there was also a massive turnout.
At the polling units in LA primary School Popo, Ward 1,  Oja Oba Town Hall, Ward 2, Osolo Hall, Ward 1 and Oke-Osun, Ward 1B, many of the voters arrived as early as 7:00 am to check their names on the voters’ list.
At exactly 8:24, accreditation and voting started at Polling Unit 2, LA Primary School Popo.

Some voters, however,  complained that they could not find their names on the voters’ register.
The INEC  Presiding Officer, Mr Lawal Adewale, said they had no challenges at the voting unit as materials arrived early.
He said those complaining they could not find their names on the voters’ register were not at the polling unit to vote
More than 200 voters were at the polling unit made up three voting points to cast their vote.
In Ede, the  Peoples Democratic Party candidate, Adeleke,  voted at Ward 2 Unit  9 at Sagba-Abogunde at about 8:01 am after an initial hitch with the card reader.
” The card reader took a lot of processes before it started working and I hope it is not the same in other polling units,’’ he said.
The police spokesman, Acting DCP Jimoh Moshood, had said four unarmed policemen and two others from other security agencies would  be on duty at each voting point throughout the state.
He also said the Police  Mobile Force (PMF) headed by a very senior officer will provide security at the RAC, Super RAC and collation centres.
This is in addition to the deployment of  two helicopters, 30  Armoured Personnel Carriers,  10  Armoured Personnel Vehicles and 300  Police patrol vehicles.
Moshood also disclosed that the  Deputy Inspector General of Police in charge of Operations would supervise  the entire security arrangement.
He would be assisted by an Assistant Inspector General of Police and eight  Commissioners of Police while  eight Police Area Commands in the state would  be manned by a Commissioner of Police.
The police also  released the dedicated lines—08037025670, 08037160989, 08033415589 and  08032451594—for residents to report any infraction on the democratic process.
Officials of the FRSC were also on ground to enforce the 7.am-4.pm restriction on vehicular movement.
The FRSC  had also deployed 15,000 personnel  and vehicles to enforce the restriction on vehicular movement.
Meanwhile, two Civil Society Organisations monitoring the election said the Independent National Electoral Commission(INEC’s) secret balloting had so far made it impossible for people to openly buy and sell votes.

The Executive Director of YIAGA Africa, Mr Samson Itodo, said that the group was monitoring the election in 250 polling units.
Itodo said that so far, it was obvious that INEC took deliberate steps to ensure that the secrecy of balloting was not compromised .
“There were two things INEC assured the stakeholders of, first was the reconsideration of the polling units, the ballot box and the cubicle would be placed closer to each other.
“The polling officials were carrying out voter education in the morning, especially on how to roll their ballot papers according to the election guidelines provided by INEC guidelines.
“So, INEC kept to its promise of secret balloting, however, there were still some instances where voters intentionally exposed their ballot, in fact one actually happened before me.’’
Itodo encouraged voters to stop doing that, because it would undermine the integrity of the entire electoral process.

He said that at the moment ,the group had not observed any vote buying or selling activity though it was still very premature to state anything .
The National Coordinator, Election Monitor, Mr Abiodun Ajijola, said that he had so far not witnessed nor heard of vote buying during the election .
Ajijola said that things were moving as planned except for one or two issues on card readers where it was not authenticating properly.
He said that a request was made and something was being done about it.
The groups, therefore, commended INEC for the conduct of the exercise, so far.
The Executive Director, Women Arise for Change Initiative, Mrs Joe Okei-Odumakin,  said the security agencies had so far displayed the highest level of professionalism in their coverage of the exercise.

Okei-Odumakin also commended the turnout of voters during the poll, describing it as “ massive”.
“It was a massive turnout of voters. It is relatively calm. The election started early. The security agencies have so far displayed highest level of professionalism and we still want them to remain transparent,” she said.
Okei-Odumakin, who also said that the organisation had deployed 100 observers across the 30 local government areas of the state, said that 20 roving observers were also on ground to monitor the poll.
“I have also personally gone to Ede, Modakeke, Iragbiji and I am in Ife now,” she said.
According to her, the poll has so far been peaceful and the voters have conducted themselves well.
She said none of the observers had brought any report on shortages of election materials as at the time of the interview.

Esther Uzoma, a member of the Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room, commended the police and other security agencies deployed for the election for their good conduct.
Uzoma also noted the massive turnout of voters in the places she had visited, so far.
‘’We have covered Osun South and Ede and right now, we are going to Ikire. The election has been peaceful, the security agencies are conducting themselves well,” she said.
There are 3,010 Polling Units and 755 Polling Points spread across the three senatorial districts and 30 local governments areas of the state.

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