Vote buying dominated Anambra election – Yiaga Africa

By Musa Baba Adamu

An Election Monitoring watchdog, Yiaga Africa, has said that the just concluded Anambra State governorship election was dominated by vote-buying.
The Director of Programmes of the group, Cynthia Mbamalu, made this statement yesterday , while responding to questions in an interview on Arise Television monitored in Abuja.
It would be recalled that the Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC), had declared the incumbent Governor Chukuwma Soludo of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, (APGA), winner of the poll.
Reacting, Mbamalu said, “Low voter turnout continues to make it easier for politicians to influence election outcomes through financial inducement and impunity, rather than genuine popularity.
“Votes are beginning to count, the official result announced is a reflection of the votes cast across the polling units, but the truth is that the votes that were counted are the votes that were bought.
“Politicians understand that the system is actually working, and so they invest a lot in spending as much money as possible.”