SaharaReporters gathered that the EFCC operatives were seen at Freedom Park, Old Garage, Osogbo, the state capital as of 8.15am.
Operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Saturday morning in Osun State began the monitoring of the governorship election to arrest vote buyers in the process.
SaharaReporters gathered that the EFCC operatives were seen at Freedom Park, Old Garage, Osogbo, the state capital as of 8.15am.
Vote-buying has continued to be one of the major and recurring practices in elections in the country, as widely reported during last Ekiti State gubernatorial election.
The election, which will be contested by 15 political parties, is expected to be a major duel between the incumbent governor, Gboyega Oyetola of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Senator Ademola Adeleke of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Other candidates in the race are the former Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Lasun Yusuf of the Labour Party, Goke Omigbodun of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and Akin Ogunbiyi of Accord Party.
More voters are expected to participate in the election than the 2018 poll when 767,444 electorates out of the 1,668,524 registered voters exercised their franchise. The election recorded 45.99 per cent turnout.
In 2018, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Oyetola as winner, having polled 255,505 votes against Adeleke, who had 255,023 votes at the end of a supplementary election, which held in seven polling units across four local governments amidst allegations of harassment and other forms of malpractice.
The INEC had scheduled the rerun after declaring the main election inconclusive, won by Adeleke with 353 votes after polling 254,698 against Oyetola’s 254,345. It stated that the margin of votes between Adeleke and Oyetola was less than the number of cancelled votes in seven polling units.