The Center for Democracy and
Development has raised fresh concerns about vote-buying less than 24 hours to
the governorship elections Kogi State.
CDD, an accredited and trained
observers said it has been keeping a close watch on the electoral process,
adding that officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC,
are also being induced by political parties.
In a statement on
Friday, signed by its Director, Idayat Hassan, the observer group said, “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
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 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. CDD condemns in the strongest possible terms 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: ‘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 calls on the anti-corruption
agencies, particularly the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and
the 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.
“We, therefore, make the
following calls: The EFCC, ICPC and the police should closely monitor financial
transactions with a view to arresting all suspects inducing voters and/or
electoral officials.
INEC should fine-tune its
monitoring mechanisms to ensure that all compromised electoral officials are
removed from the process immediately.
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.
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