Women group seeks more sensitisation on vote-trading

The Nigerian Women Trust Fund (NWTF) has urged stakeholders to sensitise the citizenry on their rights to exercise their civic duty and shun vote trading.

Mufuliat Fijabi, chief executive officer for the Gender and Election Watch (GEW) room of the NWTF, said this in a statement on Sunday in Abuja.

Ms Fijabi said the organisation was in Osun to observe, gather information and analyse women’s and men’s participation in the governorship election from a gender perspective.

She said observers deployed to polling units observed 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.

Ms Fijabi also commended the turnout of the aged and the 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, stating that the conduct of the security agencies added value, which gave confidence to the electorate to come out to exercise their franchise. 

(NAN)