Osun 2018 UK, US, EU spot intimidation of voters, Journalists, others

Delegations from the Missions of the European Union, EU, the United Kingdom, UK, and the United States, US, election observers, in a joint statement, after the Osun State re-run election on September 27, commended the vast majority of the voters in the state for exercising their democratic rights peacefully.

The International Election Observer team expressed dissatisfaction over noticeable irregularities that occurred in the Osun governorship election. “In contrast to our overall findings on the vote of September 22, we were concerned to witness widespread incidents of interference and intimidation of voters, journalists, and civil society observers by some political party supporters and security agencies.

“Many of our findings mirror those of leading civil society groups that observed the election,” they declared.

The team commended the work of INEC leadership during both elections. “But it is clear that the neutrality of the security services and responsible conduct by party agents, both inside and outside polling units, will be essential to ensure free, fair, credible and peaceful elections in 2019,” they cautioned.

They advocated for calm from all stakeholders, counseling that any challenges to the election result should be made through peaceful and lawful means.

The delegations restated their position of firm neutrality among all parties and candidates. “We remain committed to supporting the Nigerian people in seeing free, fair, credible, and peaceful elections,” they said.