A non-governmental organization, Centre for Democracy Development (CDD), has condemned what it called ‘vote buying’ during the Saturday Ondo state governorship election, alleging that politicians engaged in the fraud to get massive votes.
Idayat Hassan, the Director of the organisation stated this in Akure at the weekend while speaking with journalists.
According to her, monies were distributed to leaders of each political parties on the election day in order to buy votes in Ondo.
She noted that politicians still devised ways to engage in vote buying, warning that the electoral offence is fraudulent and poses danger to democracy if it is not adequately curbed.
Hassan said, “We observed a consistent pattern of vote buying, with those engaged in it adopting tactics to induce voters, while evading security officials and election observers.
“Our observers documented attempts by politicians to outspend each other by disbursing large sums of money to community leaders for onward distribution to voters.
“Deviating from their previous style of distributing cash discreetly at points close to the polling units, the politicians created outposts where voters can go to collect cash after proving that they voted for the vote-buying party.
“Our observers reported that party agents largely stayed away from coordinating vote buying but their parties designated someone who is not a party agent and appears to be neutral to direct voters to their outposts to collect cash.”
The group, however, commended the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for the timely arrival of its officials and materials to the polling units across the state.
CDD also commended voters across the state for their determination and resilience to peacefully exercise their franchise and in many cases defend the sanctity of the ballot in very challenging conditions.
Meanwhile, different teams of journalists and observers that monitored and reported the governorship election observed that bribes, ranging from N2,000 to N7,000 and domestic gas cylinders, were freely distributed by majorly the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and People’s Democratic Party (PDP), as well as Zenith Labour Party (ZLP), to buy votes from the electorate.
RAZAQ AYINLA and KORETIMI AKINTUNDE, Akure
