The Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD) has expressed concerns as vote buying raises its ugly head in Kogi elections scheduled to hold on Saturday, November 16.
In a press statement signed by CDD Director, Idayat Hassan, reports from its accredited observers indicate that one of the parties have made overtures and has been inducing INEC supervising presiding officers (SPOs) with bribes of USD1,000 to buy them over and get them to do their bidding on election day.
“Less than 24 hours to the opening of polls for the November 16, 2019 Kogi State Governorship election, CDD accredited and trained observers have been keeping a close watch on the electoral process. There are indications that a lot of money has been set aside for vote buying on Saturday. Already, our observers have noted the distribution of gift items such as Ankara textile materials and rice in Lokoja and Koton Karfe Local Government Areas.
“In addition, the latest reports we are receiving from our observers indicate massive inducement of INEC Supervising Presiding Officers (SPO) across the 21 Local Government Areas of the State. The reports indicate that one of the parties have made overtures, and has been inducing the SPOs with bribes of USD1,000 to buy them over, and get them (the SPOs) to do their bidding on Election Day.
“These reports were further confirmed from Bureau de Change (BDC) Operators within the State who were interviewed. The BDC operators report that there are has been an upsurge in the number of customers calling to change USD1000 to Naira.
“The use of financial inducement to subvert the credibility of the electoral process is antithetical to the democratic ethos,” the statement read.
CDD condemned all forms of inducement of poll officials.
The Electoral Act 2010 (as amended) expressly frowns at bribery and all forms of inducement of poll officials. Specifically, Section 124(4) of the Electoral Act 2010 as amended states that: “Any person who commits the offence of bribery is liable on conviction to a maximum fine of N500,000 or imprisonment for 12 months or both”.
CDD called on the anti-corruption agencies, particularly the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) to thoroughly investigate these reports in order to hold to account the perpetrators of these electoral crimes.
The Centre also tasked INEC to fine tune its monitoring mechanisms to ensure that all compromised electoral officials are removed from the process immediately.
CDD counseled Kogi electorate not to sell their votes.
“The good people of Kogi State should be aware that if they sell their votes, they are mortgaging their future and compromising the possibility of good governance for their own benefits.”
