An Election observer in Ekiti State, Mr. Paul James working for YIAGA, has revealed that people sold their votes during the governorship election for as low as ₦500.
He informed a BBC Hausa Service show which was monitored by Africa Daily News, New York that from March 2022 till date, money and other items were given to people during political occasions.
He revealed that, so far, things have changed as they now go from house to house giving people money.
‘What this has shown is that politicians don’t like wasting time campaigning, what they now do is to buy people’s votes,’ he said.
Read Also: Ekiti Guber: Drama As Oyebanji Is Caught Bribing Electorates
He said it was not only one political party that does that, adding that it’s so disheartening that they buy people’s vote for as low as ₦500.
However, an INEC official Hajiya Zainab Aminu told the BBC Hausa that they’ve taken steps to deal with the problem.
She said it is not permissible for people to use phones or snap pictures when they come to cast their vote at the polling stations.
She said people used to snap what they voted for and showed it afterwards so as to collect money.
According to her, the Commission was working together with EFCC and ICPC so as to apprehend those who flout the election rules and get them punished in accordance to the offence they committed.
Meanwhile, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Sunday morning declared the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Biodun Oyebanji as the winner of the Ekiti State governorship election.
The Returning Officer for the election, Prof Kayode Adebowale, and the Vice Chancellor, the University of Ibadan, who announced the results said, ‘Oyebanji, having scored the highest number of votes is declared the winner and returned elected as the governor-elect of Ekiti State’.
The APC scored 187,057 votes to defeat its closest rival, the SDP, which garnered 82,211 votes, the PDP, which got 67,457 votes and 13 other parties which participated in Saturday’s governorship election.