Major political parties engaged in vote buying during Edo guber, says Samson Itodo

Samson Itodo, executive director of Yiaga Africa, a civil society organisation (CSO), says major political parties engaged in vote buying during the Edo governorship election.

The election was conducted on Saturday, September 21.

On Sunday, Farouk Adamu, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) returning officer for the election, declared Monday Okpebholo, candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), as winner of the vote.

Speaking on Monday on ‘Morning Brief’, a programme on Channels Television, Itodo said all political parties were complicit of alleged infractions.

According to him, Yiaga and other CSOs noticed that parties handed out N5,000 to N10,000 to voters.

“One thing I can tell you is that all of the parties are complicit of the infractions that happened during this election,” he said.

“All — at least the major political parties — were involved in vote buying, as we have stated in our midday situational statement, as other observer groups have also stated, because the major political parties were seen buying votes… N10,000, N5,000.

“So, I think all the parties are complicit, and we will, later today in our statement, provide further details as to how all of this played out in the course of the results collation process.”

On Saturday, Yiaga Africa reported incidents of vote buying and polling unit disruption during the election.

The CSO said vote buying was observed in several LGAs including Ikpoba-Okha, Igueben, Esan West, Akoko Edo, Owan West, and Uhunmode.

It added that votes were sold for a paltry N10,000 in the six LGAs.

Ahead of the Edo election, Yiaga Africa had alerted that politicians may resort to violence and vote buying during the poll.

Yiaga harped on the need to address vote buying through decisive actions, including the arrest and prosecution of alleged buyers and sellers.

The CSO said it observed a “volatile political climate” for the election, adding that strong-arm tactics and violence marred the campaigns.

Seventeen candidates contested for over 2.2 million votes across the 18 LGAs of Edo.

On Saturday, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) arrested some suspects for alleged vote buying.