The Obidient Movement has raised alarm over what it described as the heavy monetisation of the Anambra state governorship election.
Speaking to journalists on Saturday in Anambra, the National Coordinator of the Obidient movement, Dr Yunusa Tanko, said the group has deployed its structures across 176,000 polling units nationwide to monitor the conduct of the polls and report irregularities in real time.
“He said our agents and coordinators in all local governments are already on ground. But painfully enough, the process, one way or the other, is heavily monetised. That has affected this particular election, both on the part of the candidates and the electorate itself. That’s exactly where the problem lies.”
He lamented that vote buying has become a recurring challenge in Nigeria’s elections, stressing that poverty has been weaponised as a political tool to influence voter choice.
“Well, most importantly, then we must have to find a way of punitive measures for those who engage in actually giving money and for those who even take money. Because there’s a way, because if you don’t give, nobody will take. So then people will be left with the option of deciding on a credible person to vote for.
“But at the moment, people are offering money even publicly. You will hear this on television and social media. People are offering money for this and that and that. And that creates a lot of apprehension in the minds of the people. And truly, today, we have already weaponised poverty in Nigeria as a measure for getting your votes. People are hungry; they don’t doubt about it.”
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Responding to questions on whether the Labour Party was also engaging in vote buying, Tanko dismissed the claim, saying the party lacked both the will and the resources to do so.
“No, of course. That’s why we are raising this as an alarm. We are not because we don’t even have the money to do that. And that does not speak well for our own credibility as people who want credible elections and free and fair elections in Nigeria. Obviously, we will not engage in vote buying or, you know, try to manipulate the people using money. We will not do it. We don’t even have the money,” he said.
As voting in the Anambra State gubernatorial election begins, party agents are disrupting the voting process in some polling units over voting buying and some other irregularities in Anambra East.
The situation is particularly tense in Umeri, Unity primary school, Mgbago, ward 13, polling unit 6, as there is chaos in the polling unit.
Party agents are disrupting the process because of serious vote buying, especially against the Young Progressive Party (YPP) and Social Democratic Party (SDP).
The agents are seen with books and pens, writing the names of the electorates who voted for them.
They are confusing the elderly ones who are vulnerable.
According to election monitors from the Centre for Journalism and Innovation (CJID) who are on the ground, YPP shared the sum of #5000 and some portion of rice to people who agreed to vote for them.
READ ALSO: People Who Engage in Vote Buying Are Looters, Not Leaders — Peter Obi
According to the CJID election observer, the SPO in charge was trying to control the situation, but they were not listening.
‘There are armed and unarmed security officers securing the environment.
“APGA party Agent was looking into the balloting Area to check who voted for them. Almost all electoral laws are being broken”, the observer who did not what his name in print said.
Story credit: Vanguard and Business Day Newspaper
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