Ahead of the Osun 2022 Gubernatorial election, Convener of the Civil Society Committee For Anti-Fraud Election Security (CISCAES), Comrade Kennedy Iyere, a popular humanitarian activist, has urged the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to conduct a transparent, fair and credible poll without fear or favour.
CISCAES, operating as a frontline electoral anti-fraud civil society organization, also warned INEC on the need not to allow a repeat of the landscape vote-buying witnessed in the recently conducted Ekiti guber-poll.
In a statement signed by the Convener, Comrade Kennedy Iyere stressed the need to ensure that the BVAS technology does not act in a fraudulent or manipulated way which could result in vote-rigging as well as election conspiracy capable of jeopardizing the success of the election.
According to him, ‘INEC should not favour the power that be as it is already being largely speculated. Any attempt to rig the “Osun 2022 Guber-Poll” might provoke an anti-INEC protest, which would compel aggrieved Nigerians to unconditionally demand the immediate sack of Mahmoud Yakaubu, as National Chairman of INEC”, he said.
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Revisiting the 2018 Osun gubernatorial election, he said, “Osun 2018 guber-poll” was declared inconclusive because the then Returning Officer, Prof Joseph Fuwape acted on a telephone call, which instructed him to declare the election inconclusive. It was an order from above, issued by the power that be”, he stated.
Comrade Iyere charged Prof Mahmoud Yakubu and INEC officials to redeem them from the shameful reputation they earned in 2018, by truncating the credible process of the “Osun 2018 Guber-Poll”, saying it was obvious that the election was rigged. He however cautioned INEC not to repeat the same in 2022.