A non-partisan organisation, Yvotenaija, has organised an election observation workshop tagged, ‘#OsunDecides 2022: Mobilising the Youths, Women and People Living With Disabilities (PWD)’ ahead of the July 16 governorship election in Osun State to caution against vote-buying and vote apathy, AMILOADED reports.
The event was held at the NUJ press Center, Osogbo, the Osun State capital on Saturday.
Speaking at the workshop, Mr Semih Adabanija of SEAD Africa spoke extensively on ‘Understanding the Peculiarity of Our Environment to Drive Voter’s Education and Awareness’.
Some of the strategies to be employed, according to him, are door to door conversations, religious gatherings, social and traditional media, group mobilization as some ways to dissuade the people from vote merchandising, putting the peculiarity of the environment into consideration.
He said majority of those who vote are uneducated and know little to nothing of the plans of the candidates for them.
One of the facilitator, Oladeji Alabi from Urban Alert, who spoke on ‘The Implications of Election commercialization in Democracy and Development’ enlightened other trainees through the meaning of vote merchandising, it’s outbreak and what it spells for the country.
He said, “buying and selling of votes can and will eventually spell doom for the country, after which voter apathy increases in the land. He admonished the trainees to enlighten people on the this as the may not be aware that their action amounts to signing up for poverty.
Dr Rasheed Adebiyi, who is a journalist, said: “The media is doing a lot of damage to the belief of the people as most hold the belief that their votes won’t count because they are ignorant of the fact that there have been improvements in the electoral process.
Speaking on the impact of media in elections, Evelyn Ohiole said, “Until INEC begins to criminalise the open shoe of the ballot paper, we may not have some sanity in the electoral process.”
According to her, the media, as an agent of positive change in election matters through the organisation of debates and other informative programmes amongst candidates across all political parties.
Key stakeholders of Yvotenaija, the state Director, Adebiyi Wasiu Adebisi, Onitiju Kehinde of Onitiju Disability Foundation, media experts, representatives of Civil Society Organisations, and trainees were present at the event.
Yvotenaija was established in January 2021 with presence in the 36 states of the federation.
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