The Nigerian Women Trust Fund (NWTF), on Sunday, urged stakeholders to sensitise the citizenry on their rights to exercise their civic duty and shun vote trading.
Chief Executive Officer for Gender and Election Watch (GEW) Room of the NWTF,
Mrs Mufuliat Fijabi, said this in a statement yesterday in Abuja.
Fijabi said the organisation was in Osun to observe, gather information and carry out analysis about women and men’s participation in the governorship election from a gender perspective.
She said they deployed 50 accredited observers and citizens observers across the 30 Local Government Areas of Osun to observe the governorship election.
According to her, we noted the occurrence of voter inducement in some polling units in a veiled manner.
” Voters were observed to stylishly point or raise their ballot papers to party agents at polling units to show who they voted for and thereafter, proceeded to get their cash reward.
” 25 per cent of NWTF GEW observers reported cases of veiled voter inducement and reported concealed vote trading, ” she said.
She, therefore, stressed the need for stakeholders to sensitise the citizenry on their rights to exercise their civic duty and shun vote trading.
Fijabi, also commended the turnout of the aged and enthusiasm demonstrated at the polling units.
” Many women especially the elderly turned out to vote. Also, a significant number of PWDs were sighted at some of the polling units, ” she said.
She also commended INEC for adhering to the guidelines on priority Voting and Access for women and Persons with Disabilities (PWDs), aged, pregnant and nursing mothers.
The group also described the election as peaceful and the conduct of the security an added value, which gave confidence to the electorate to come out to exercise their franchise.
