CSO Identifies Lagos, Kano, Six Other States as High-risk for Vote-buying, Violence

Barely 24 hours to the presidential election, a civil society group, Speak Out Africa Initiative, has identified Lagos, Kano, Kogi, Kaduna, Delta, Rivers, Abia and Ebonyi as high-risk states for violence, vote-buying, and voters suppression.

The Executive Director of the group, Kenneth Eze, disclosed this on Thursday during a briefing with journalists in Abuja.He explained that it had deployed 1,405 election radar officers across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, FCT.

He stated that security agencies must keep sight of desperate politicians ready to undermine the electoral process.

“We must not lose sight of desperate and unpopular political actors who resort to instigating violence to undermine the electoral process. We have seen hate speeches, abuse of political opponents, and attacks that have heightened the political space.

“Through our violence incidence tracker, we wish to alert the security agencies to place an eye on the following states as there is the likelihood of undemocratic actions to be carried out which are proponents of violence. Such states are Lagos as a HIGH-RISK state,” he said.

He stated that Rivers, Delta, Kano, Kaduna and Kogi states have a high risk of political skirmishes, vote buying, violence and other activities to compromise the forthcoming election.However, Eze added that Benue, Zamfara, Nasarawa, Anambra, and Enugu are low-risk states requiring attention from security agencies.