Group Doubts Credibility Of Ekiti Gov. Poll, As New Tactics To Vote Buying Surfaced

By Ayodele Oni 

Another dimension to vote buying was experienced on Saturday during the governorship election in Ekiti state.

Investigations revealed that party agents used numbered slips instead of cash for vote buying  during the election. 

This is just as the Action Group Renewal Organization (AGRO) Nigeria expressed concerns over the credibility and integrity of the governorship election in Ekiti State, alleging widespread irregularities in the issuance of Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) ahead of the exercise.

There are indications that some voters in the ongoing governorship election in

 Ekiti State are selling their votes at the polling units where they are queuing to exercise their franchise.

It was observed across multiple polling units in Emure-Ekiti and Ose-Ekiti Local Government Areas, with incidents consistent with vote-buying at several polling units.

Party agents were seen asking voters to display their marked ballot papers as proof of voting preference. 

Rather than distributing cash directly at the polling units, some agents issued numbers to voters after they cast their ballots.

The purpose of the numbers could not be independently verified by this newspaper. 

However, the practice was observed repeatedly across some of the polling units visited, with voters receiving numbers after showing their ballot papers to party agents.

Election observers have previously identified the use of coded numbers, tokens and other verification methods as tactics sometimes employed to facilitate vote-buying while avoiding the direct exchange of cash at polling units.

Security personnel and election officials were present at the affected polling units at the time of observation.

Speaking on behalf of the AGRO, on Saturday, the Initiator, Comrade Adeyinka Fadumiye, described as highly suspicious reports indicating that nearly 99 percent of registered voters in Moba Local Government Area had collected their PVCs prior to the election.

Fadumiye, a political scientist with over two decades of experience in election monitoring and observation, argued that such a development is practically impossible in a country where voter apathy has become a recurring feature of the electoral process.

“To suggest that virtually all registered voters in a local government area collected their PVCs defies logic and electoral realities in Nigeria. 

“Such a feat would be difficult to achieve even in advanced democracies like the United States. Therefore, serious questions must be asked about how such figures were arrived at,” he said.

The AGRO Nigeria Initiator alleged that some unscrupulous elements within the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), working in concert with misguided members of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), may have compromised the electoral register and facilitated the issuance of PVCs to unqualified and ineligible individuals.

According to him, if such abnormalities could occur in Moba Local Government Area, it would be difficult to confidently rule out the possibility of similar irregularities in other parts of the state.

“For this situation to arise, it suggests that the voters’ register may have been manipulated to accommodate fictitious names and unauthorized persons. 

“This development raises fundamental concerns about the integrity of the electoral process.

“Opposition parties must be seriously concerned about what is happening in Ekiti State. What we are witnessing may be a testing ground for a larger strategy ahead of the 2027 general elections. 

“If electoral institutions fail to address these concerns now, similar occurrences may be replicated across the federation,” he warned.

Calling on INEC to restore public confidence in the electoral process, Fadumiye urged the electoral commission to identify and remove compromised officials within its ranks before preparations for the 2027 general elections commence in earnest.

“INEC must redeem itself by purging the commission of bad eggs and ensuring that the integrity of the voters’ register is protected. Any attempt to manipulate or rig the 2027 general elections could have grave consequences for Nigeria’s democracy and national stability,” he concluded.