Preliminary Report By The Women Arise For Change Initiative Ahead Of The July 16, 2022, Governorship Election In Osun
With Less than 24 hours to the very crucial Governorship election in Osun State, to elect a Governor for the State.
It becomes important to brief gentlemen of the Press and public, particularly the people of Osun State, about our observations as one of the organizations, accredited by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to observe this election.
Tomorrow’s election, which has candidates from not less than seventeen political parties participating, is the climax of the series of activities, including, political parties primaries, political campaigns and stakeholders engagements towards the Osun 2022 Governorship election.
Over the past few weeks, INEC, Political parties and the civil society, have embarked upon several activities aimed at voters education and campaigns, which in the past few days, became intensified by all actors.
Election preparatory activities by INEC, which has been on for several days, remain in top gear. Let me at this point state, that as a group, we have employed, trained and will be deploying several of our Observers, in the 30 Local Government Areas of Osun State, to observe tomorrow’s election.
As we all look forward to the election, we cannot but alert Nigerians, of the fact that the act of voter inducement and vote buying is gaining ground in our elections.
We are therefore using this medium, to urge Osun State voters to reject any form of inducement by politicians but should rather engage the Governorship candidates based on issues that they Care about and only vote for parties and candidates who have a clear agenda for the development of Osun State.Kudos must be given to INEC, in its commitment towards ensuring that tomorrow’s election, is conducted in a manner that is free, fair and credible.
The deployment of personel and sensitive electoral materials so far, is assuring of the commission’s readiness, to deliver on time.So far, we are impressed by the conduct of security agencies who are involved in the ongoing Osun election processes and we do sincerely hope, that they will improve on their professionalism and uncompromising stand, throughout the election.
Security agents are expected to support the effort of INEC, Civil society and other stakeholders in preventing violence and other electoral offenses, including voters inducement.We do hope, that this election, will stand as another true test, for us as Nigerians, as we prepare towards the crucial 2023 General election in the country.
Thank you all.
