BY TIMOTHY AGBOR, OSOGBO
The Deputy Inspector-General of Police (DIG) in charge of the Force Criminal Investigation Department (FCID), Johnson Kokumo has disclosed that the fact that vote-buying is being done in topmost secrecy has been a challenge to the force in nipping the menace in the bud.
Kokumo, the head of the police team deployed for the Saturday governorship election in Osun State and also the supervisory DIG for the South-West, said the force has its ears to the ground to arrest traders of votes during the poll.
He urged Nigerians to alert policemen whenever they see people buying or selling votes.
Speaking on Wednesday at the Signing of Peace Accord in Osogbo for political parties and gubernatorial candidates in the state ahead of the election, an event organised by the National Peace Committee, the police chief said vote-buying was worrisome and bad to democracy.
He said the police would create conducive atmosphere during the election and said any threat to the peaceful conduct of the poll would be tackled.
Kokumo urged gubernatorial candidates to eschew bitterness and violence before, during and after the election and also called on parents and guardians not to allow their wards to be used as political thugs.
According to him, “We are going to improve on what we did in Ekiti so that posterity will judge us. The security agencies will remain apolitical. We will provide level playing ground for all the political parties. We want to appeal to you to go by the rules of the game. Eschew bitterness and thuggery. Parents should not allow their children and wards to be used as political thugs. We will do all within our capacity to ensure that the atmosphere is conducive for a peaceful election. If you see something, please, say something.
“What has been most worrisome to us in recent time is vote-buying. We have our ears to the ground. We want to appeal to members of the public to please, make information available to us so that we can possibly swoop on those who are engaged in vote-buying and vote-selling. This, of course, is not good for our democracy. The problem we have in that area is the fact that vote-buying remains what is done in topmost secrecy, when money exchanges hands, it will be difficult to determine whether the money that has actually exchanged hands is meant to buy votes or for selling of votes. But we won’t rest on our oars involving other means that would serve the purpose of ensuring that the buyers and the sellers are taken off the streets.
“I want to assure all the contestants of adequate security during the poll and ensure to tackle any threat to the election process. Let us eschew inciteful statements during the election and our youths must be cautioned against violence.”