As parts of the moves to checkmate possible incidence of vote buying in the forthcoming September 22 governorship poll in Osun, the Head of Department, voters education and publicity of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in the state, Mr Stephen Akin Ojewande, Deputy HOD Voters Education and publicity, on Thursday said any voter that display ballot after casting votes would be prosecuted.

He said the electoral umpire was intensifying its sensitisation and awareness programmes on how the eligible voters would conduct themselves through the process leading to the casting of ballots.

Ojewande, who spoke during a press conference tagged “Osun Media Peace Day organised by the National Democratic Institute (NDI) and other international agencies such as UKAID affirmed that displaying ballots after casting votes contravened Electoral Act, stressing that “voters cannot take phone inside the cubicle, we are not planning to ban the possession of mobile phones.”

Emphasising that there would be zero tolerance for electoral malpractice during the poll, he maintained that INEC would leave no stone unturned to eradicate vote buying by politicians, saying “we would ensure that electoral offenders are diligently prosecuted.

Speaking during the event, the resident senior director of NDI, Mr Aubrey Mc Cutcheon explained that the agency was passionate about the conduct of the free, fair and credible poll, devoid of violence.

In his remark, the Chief Executive Officer of Rave FM, a private radio station in Osogbo, Mr Femi Adefila tasked INEC to evolve effective synergy as a potent strategy to tackle votes buying, which he claimed, was pervasive during the last governorship poll in Ekiti State.

He advised governorship candidates and leaders of political parties to make their electioneering campaigns issue-based and also explore debates to sell their ideas and agenda to the citizenry.

•Sourced from a Tribune report

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