Ekiti, Osun voters sold votes for ₦50,000 – EU observers

The European Union Support to Democratic Governance in Nigeria (EU-SDGN) Election Observation Hub has raised the alarm over the commercialisation of the electoral process, revealing that political actors paid voters up to ₦50,000 during the recent Ekiti and Osun governorship elections.

The Hub, made up of several coalition of civil society organisations including Kukah Centre, Yiaga Africa, and the International Press Centre, made the disclosure during the presentation of its findings in Abuja on Tuesday.

The group deployed over 1,400 trained observers across all local government areas in both states to monitor the June and August off-cycle polls.

Prof. Bolade Eyinla, while presenting the data, lamented that vote trading has become a highly organised and standardised pandemic.

He stated that despite the magnitude of the electoral offence, perpetrators operate with absolute impunity, as no arrests or prosecutions have been recorded.

“The scourge of vote trading is becoming a pandemic. If we don’t do anything about it, the sanctity of the vote and freedom of choice is beginning to come under threat and pressure. The data shows us that 77% of the 84 verified incidents were vote trading, and party agents were the main actors in at least 90% of these cases,” Eyinla stated.

The observers explained that compromised voters intentionally displayed their marked ballot papers to party agents at the polling units before openingly dropping them in the box, in order to receive payment.

The Hub despite condemning the financial inducements during the elections, commended the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for its operational logistics. Observers revealed that the elections commenced early and that the declared results aligned with the actual figures.

The observation hub also called on INEC to ensure the real-time uploading of election results directly from the ward level, rather than relying on polling unit transmissions.