Civil Society Organisation (CSO), YIAGA Africa, on Wednesday urged security agencies to investigate the reported stockpiling of arms by some politicians ahead of the Kogi and Bayelsa governorship elections.
YIAGA Africa’s Executive Director, Samson Itodo, in the organisation’s “Second Pre-election Observation Report,” also said it had become imperative to investigate the reports on recruitment of thugs.
He said: “With the emerging trends, the election campaigns are becoming more competitive and fiercely contested.
“The reports highlight possible threat to the peaceful conduct of the elections with the observation of the presence of small arms and weapons in some local government areas.
“Observers identified a community as being used for the storage of ammunition and the recruitment of thugs.
“The ammunition was discovered to have been stored prior to the 2019 general elections.
“Other reports of recruitment of political thugs were from some communities in Bayelsa.”
Itodo said the report also revealed that buying and selling of Permanent Voter Cards (PVC) still existed as political parties moved from house to house to get people.
He said observers monitored and tracked voter inducement through the distribution of money or gift items such as vehicles by political parties to their supporters in both states.
