Crime

Breaking: Scores feared dead in Ogun auto crash

Published

5 years ago

on

June 16, 2021

By

Olusegun Odunewu

A head-on collision involving an 18-Seater commercial bus and a petrol tanker on Wednesday led to the burning alive of 18 passengers and the two vehicles at Ajilete near Idiroko border in Ogun State.

It was gathered that excessive speed and wrongful overtaking led to the head-on collision, when the commercial bus coming from Ajilete sloppy road suddenly lost control, bumped into an object and burst into flames.

READ ALSO: N25.7bn fraud charge: Ex Bank PHB MD, Atuche, wife know fate today

An eye witness account said that rescue teams including operatives of the Ogun State Traffic Compliance and Enforcement Corps, TRACE and Police are already on the ground.

The accident has rendered the Idiroko international road impassable as traffic has been at stand-still.

Details later…

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Vote-buying remains a major concern One of the strongest warnings from Osun was the continued presence of vote-buying and voter inducement. Yiaga Africa said the results declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) were consistent with its independent statistical projections, but cautioned that this did not remove concerns about the integrity of voters' choices amid reports of vote-buying and inducement. The concern is particularly significant ahead of 2027, when political competition will take place nationwide and involve presidential, National Assembly and state-level contests. The International Republican Institute (IRI), following a pre-election assessment mission conducted in August, identified monetised political competition, election-related violence, insecurity and declining public confidence in INEC among the structural challenges facing the 2027 elections. IRI recommended stronger investigation and prosecution of vote-buying and voter inducement, urging INEC, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and security agencies to act on credible allegations. Technology improves transparency — but has limits The Osun election also demonstrated how electoral technology can improve transparency. INEC's electronic transmission of polling-unit results through the IReV platform provided observers and members of the public with a mechanism to monitor uploaded results. Yiaga Africa subsequently said the official results were consistent with its independent statistical estimates, describing the outcome as evidence that the announced results reflected the ballots counted at polling units. However, technical problems with BVAS were reported during voting. CDD said difficulties involving biometric verification and slow processing occurred in several LGAs, including Irepodun, Ejigbo, Obokun, Osogbo, Olorunda, Ola Oluwa, Ede North and Ede South. 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The institute urged security agencies to identify high-risk areas early and develop location-specific plans to prevent intimidation, disruption and attacks on electoral participants. Osun offers lessons ahead of 2027 Despite the challenges, observers say the Osun election also provides evidence that improvements in election administration can produce positive results. Yiaga Africa's assessment found that INEC and security agencies largely passed the test of conducting the election, while its independent verification indicated that the official results accurately reflected the ballots counted at polling units. The challenge ahead is to build on those gains while addressing the weaknesses exposed during the election. For INEC, that means improving BVAS reliability, strengthening result-transmission and collation procedures and maintaining clear communication with voters and political parties. 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