A non-partisan group, National Consultative Front (NCFront), has condemned an alleged electoral inducement, uncovered in Edo ahead of the state governorship election scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 19.
The group made the condemnation in a statement issued by its Head, Public Affairs Bureau, Dr. Tanko Yunusa, on Friday in Abuja.
Yunusa said the leadership of the group condemned the electoral inducement uncovered by its monitors in a viral video, where agents and stalwarts of one of the dominant political parties were seen exchanging monies.
The video also showed gifts of ‘Ankara’ clothing materials, in exchange for the Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs), of voters.
He threatened that the group would drag the defaulting party and its governorship candidate, before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and the international community, if those manipulative acts continued during the Saturday’s election.
“We hereby wish to alert the nation, especially the Gen. Abdusalami Abubarkar-led Peace Committee, the INEC, and the international community of this unfortunate act of desperation by the party.
“This is capable of sparking off a major crisis that could mar the peace and credibility of the entire elections.
“Therefore, we urge them to quickly step in to nip these subversive and circumventing build-ups of votes buying in the bud before they degenerate into a free for all.
“Our pre-election investigations and findings have also revealed a tense violent build-up, between the two leading political parties in the Edo elections,” he stated.
Yunusa said in the event of further recklessness and violations of electoral ethics by any of the contesting political parties, the NCFront would not hesitate to raise a formidable petition over the matter before the international community.
He said the act would also be taken to an appropriate international court of Justice.
“Our Monitoring Situation Room stationed in Edo State has been mandated to compile every electoral offenses observed during the elections, for judicial processing,” he said