From Joseph Amedu, Lokoja
Participants at a stakeholders meeting organized by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Kogi State in Lokoja have expressed fear over possible repeat of vote buying that characterized the recent Ekiti governorship election in the next month’s Lokoja/Kogi constituency by-election.
The death of the deputy majority leader in the House of Representatives, Buba Jibril in March 2018, called for a re-run election in the Lokoja/Kogi federal constituency.
Many of the participants who spoke kept expressing the fear that the desperation with which the Ekiti election was won and lost may repeat itself in the Lokoja/Kogi bye -election billed for August 11, 2018.
Some who spoke accused the security agents as the pawn in the hands of the unscrupulous politicians that use them to buy the votes in remote villages.
They therefore, pleaded with the Resident Electoral Commissioner to rise up to the occasion by ensuring the polling units are not made porous for such activities.
The representative of the Justice, Development and Peace Commission (JDPC) Lokoja Catholic Diocese, Simon Enejo pleaded with INEC to ensure the secret ballot system is reinforced to ensure cubicles are built at the polling units to conceal the voters from unsuspecting vote buyers who may want to ensure the voters actually voted for their candidates before payment.
He said vote buying has been with the Nigerian electorates but not to the extent of its being carried out at the polling units during voting proper as experienced during the Ekiti polls.
According to him, the poverty and hunger in the land makes it almost impossible for prospective voters to reject any gratification for votes, “but if they are protected with the real secret ballot then they can vote with their conscience even after collecting the money.”
The resident electoral Commissioner, Professor James Apam said they have learnt from the Ekiti election and that they would try as much as possible to shield the voters from possible vote buyers who may be hanging around to see whether the voter actually voted for their preferred candidates.
He said if there are other shops where votes are being sold and bought voters should not go to those shops even as he charged security operatives to go and close those shops.
“We learn everyday and as much as possible we would not allow that to happen around us.”
The deputy commissioner of police, Monday Kuryas said vote buying is a security matter and therefore it should be everybody’s concern.
He said the onus rests on the voters to say no to vote buying, as the giver and the taker are equally culpable.
In a related development, the assistant parish priest of the church of the archangels Gadumo Lokoja, Rev. Fr Michael Osunayi last Sunday challenged Nigerians to guide against selling their votes to unscrupulous politicians who will deceive them with some thousands of Naira only to win election and turn them into paupers.
Speaking during his sermon on Sunday on the role of good Shepherd which is self- sacrifice, he said David as a good shepherd always made sure he tended the sheep by making sure none is devoured by lions.
He said: “What we are experiencing in Nigeria in terms of election and vote buying is a very dangerous trend that must be halted before the 2019 election if not the gains we have made so far will be eroded as international observers will loose confidence in the outcome of the election.
“We talk about good leadership yet the same leaders use money to entice voters who are mostly poor masses that will still bear the brunt of their I’ll conceived agenda.”
He said because the people are helpless due to poverty they do not know what to do but collect the money to solve their immediate needs only to continue with a worse outcome in leadership.
