Yiaga Africa: Politicians inducing voters with food, fertilisers in Ondo

Yiaga Africa, a civil society organisation (CSO), says some politicians have been inducing voters with money, food items, and fertilisers during the Ondo governorship election.

Speaking on Arise TV on Saturday, Paul James, Yiaga Africa’s election programme manager, implored security agencies to monitor vote buying activities and apprehend offenders.

He also urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to collaborate with security personnel to safeguard the integrity of the election.

“We saw glimpses of vote buying in the buildup to the election, where politicians, in their usual theatrics, were giving voters between N2,000 and N5,000 at campaign rallies. There was also the usual distribution of food items,” he said.

“At some point in October, we observed politicians distributing fertilisers to farmers. It’s challenging to draw the line between palliatives and vote buying, especially during the buildup to elections.

“What we fear is that political public campaigns commenced late, most of the campaigns didn’t start until the middle of October.

“We were apprehensive that they may be saving up resources to buy votes on election day.

“We have called out to the anti-graft agencies and the Nigeria police to keep an eye on the process and ensure that people involved in nefarious activities are apprehended and brought to book.

“We don’t want them to territorialise the conversation. We have seen instances when these things happen in public and security officers say they can’t do anything until INEC asks them to.

“We expect the officers to be professional in the discharge of their duties.”

Lucky Aiyedatiwa of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Agboola Ajayi of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and Abbas Mimiko of the Zenith Labour Party (ZLP), are the frontrunners in the election.