According to photos making rounds on the internet, the governorship candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Biodun Oyebanji, has been captured giving money to an electorate at his polling unit at ward 06, unit 03, Okelele Area of Ikogosi-Ekiti.
Oyebanji had reportedly giveb money to the electorate while voting was ongoing. He arrived at his polling unit alongside his wife.
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Speaking after he voted, Oyebanji said he will win the contested election with a wide margin.
He said: “This is an improvement and my expectation is that I will win. I am happy that there was no case of apathy. The security build-up has also been impressive, so the process has been good and fine.
“I am coming with a change agenda and my manifesto is clear about the changes I am bringing,” he said.
It has also been reported that a group of residents were being bribed at the Mobil filling station, which is situated opposite St. Michael’s School in the Ajilosun area of Ado-Ekiti.
However, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) quickly swung into action by dispersing the political agents and those who received bribes from polling units to further rid the voting centre of these miscreants.
They were chased away by a team of NSCDC operatives led by acting Deputy Commandant, Haruna Muhammed.
Mr. Musa Faruk, a resident of the area, said that some suspected political agents had been distributing between N10,000 and N12,000 to the voters who agreed to vote for their preferred governorship candidate.
He explained that at polling units one and two of ward four at St. Michael Nursery and Primary School, the agents would have observed who voters had voted for before giving them the money.
Another voter, Veronica Famigun, who was in the midst of the crowd, said that vote-buying had been ongoing for hours, expressing happiness over the way in which those engaging in the act were dispersed by NSCDC operatives.She stressed the need for security agents to also beam their searchlight on other polling units across the state where such acts might also be perpetrated.