Ahead of the forth coming Ondo elections, the need for all stakeholders, particularly the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC, Political parties, Civil Society Organisations as well as the mass media to intensify political education and sensitisation of citizens about the need to eschew all forms of violence during the elections has been stressed
This was part of the recommendations contained in the Executive Summary of the Election Security Threats Assessment for the Ondo governorship election 2020 done by the CLEEN foundation recently presented to stakeholders during a virtual meeting.
The survey, which had eight hundred and fifty-one respondents, had “exclusion and discrimination of youths”; “undue influence of money and godfathers” as well as “activities political parties, leaders and candidates” ranking highest on the scale of possible triggers of violence during the elections.
Other possible violence triggers include “inadequacy of polling and voting units”; “political interference with the work of the INEC” as well as “the lack of transparency and corruption by party agents” to mention but three.
According to the report, although the overall expectations of a peaceful election in the state was relatively high, the possibility of electoral violence happening in Akoko North East, Akure South, and Idanre local government areas should not be ignored.
The CLEEN foundation while admonishing that election security cannot be handled by conventional security approaches, charged that these early warning signs be seen as a priority by stakeholders.
