Osun Guber: INEC Clears 20 Candidates, Accredits 29 Local And Foreign Observers

Ahead of the August 9 governorship election in Osun State, 29 domestic and international observers have been accredited by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to monitor the poll.

This was disclosed by the chief press secretary to INEC chairman, Kayode Idowu, yesterday, who further stated that the European Union (EU) delegation in Nigeria will lead the pack of other international observers to monitor the governorship poll.

Other foreign observers include the United States Mission to Nigeria, the High Commission of Canada, the British High Commission as well as the Embassies of Switzerland, Kingdom of Netherlands, Federal Republic of Germany and France.

Among the domestic observers are the Forum for State Independent Electoral Commissions of Nigeria (FOSIECON), the Justice Development and Peace Commission, Nigeria Bar Association Election Working Group, NEPAD Nigeria, Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution, etc.

The commission further stated that while 20 candidates have been cleared for the election, a total of 1.4 million voters are expected to vote.

The leading contenders for the election are the incumbent, Rauf Aregbesola of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Senator Iyola Omisore of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

According to INEC, 53 per cent or 745,828 of eligible voters are female while 661,394 or 47 per cent, are male.