The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has directed security agencies to clamp down on thuggery, cultism, vote-buying and other threats to the August 15 Osun State governorship election.
The commission has also extended the collection of Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) until Friday, July 31, to enable more eligible voters to obtain their cards.
INEC Chairman, Prof. Joash Amupitan, announced the measures on Wednesday at the Osun Governorship Election Stakeholders’ Forum in Osogbo, where he assured political parties, civil society organisations and other stakeholders of the commission’s readiness to conduct a credible election.
Amupitan said INEC had incorporated its Electoral Risk Management framework into preparations for the election and identified flashpoints requiring special security deployment.
The affected areas include parts of Atakumosa East and West, Boripe, Ede North and South, Ife Central, Ifedayo, Ila, Osogbo, Ifelodun and Oriade local government areas.
He said security agencies had been given operational directives through the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security to neutralise threats while maintaining professionalism and neutrality.
The INEC chairman also raised concerns over recent attacks on the commission’s offices in Okuku, Odo-Otin Local Government Area, and Ife Central, where uncollected PVCs were stolen.
He, however, assured voters that the stolen cards could not be used without the biometric verification of their legitimate owners.
‘Without the live biometric verification of the legitimate cardholder on the BVAS, a stolen card cannot accredit anyone to vote,’ Amupitan said.
He added that the serial numbers of the stolen cards could be blacklisted, while replacement cards would be provided to affected voters.
According to him, biometric verification through the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System will be the only method of voter accreditation during the election.
‘There will be no manual accreditation. All polling unit result sheets will be scanned and uploaded directly from the polling units to the IReV portal to guarantee transparency,’ he said.
Amupitan disclosed that 4,427 BVAS machines, including 664 backup devices, had been prepared for the poll. INEC will also conduct a mock accreditation exercise on August 1 in 12 local government areas-four in each of the state’s three senatorial districts.
On PVC collection, the Chairman said 322,822 of the 395,995 newly registered voters had collected their cards. The figure represents about 82 per cent, leaving 73,173 cards uncollected.
He said the deadline was extended to July 31 in the interest of inclusivity and to reduce the risk of eligible voters being disenfranchised.
Osun State has 2,339,233 registered voters across 30 local government areas, 332 wards and 3,763 polling units. Fourteen political parties are expected to participate in the election.
Amupitan also said INEC was collaborating with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission and the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit to combat vote-buying.
He urged political parties and their supporters to avoid inflammatory rhetoric, intimidation and violence, stressing that the commission had no preferred candidate or political party.
The National Commissioner supervising Osun State, Prof. Kunle Ajayi, also urged political actors to compete on ideas and policies rather than resort to violence or manipulation.
The state’s Resident Electoral Commissioner, Oluwatoyin Babalola, said security agencies had pledged to remain neutral and operate in accordance with the Electoral Act.
Commissioner of Police Ibrahim Gotan said the command had conducted threat assessments and intelligence gathering across the state’s 30 local government areas.
He said trained personnel would be deployed to polling units, collation centres and other strategic locations, supported by patrols and rapid-response teams.
Gotan warned that the police would not tolerate vote-buying, voter intimidation or electoral violence before, during and after the election.