Vote buying, violence characterised governorship election– CDD

By Abubakar Yunusa ABUJA

A pro-democracy organisation, the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD), has said the Governorship and State House of Assembly election across the 28 States was characterised by massive vote buying and violence.

The organisation said over 1500 observers deployed bemoaned incidents of vote buying, violence and intimidation during the polls in states including Kano, Jigawa, Lagos, Enugu, Bayelsa, Rivers and Yobe.

The CDD’s position is contained in its preliminary findings on the election, released on Saturday in Abuja, and signed by Idayat Hassan, the organisation’s director.

CDD said, it data showed that there were more instances during the governorship elections compared to the presidential polls of February 25, with this reality reflected across all six geopolitical zones.

“This might be a reflection of the heightened political environment around governorship polls, the importance of local personalities in state-level politics, and the shortages of fuel and naira”.

The preliminary statement similarly revealed that in the northwest, observers in all seven states reported increased reports of vote trading, primarily by political party agents.

It said money was used alongside other materials such as food items, wrappers and a ‘credit voucher’ were used to buy votes and those items were to be redeemed after the results.

“Similarly in the northeast, “political party agents in Taraba infiltrated the queue, pretended to be voters and used the chance to offer cash for votes”.

CDD observation data also indicated that in the south-south, the general sense of discouragement across the region that due to the unfavourable outcome of the presidential election affected turnout with voters declaring that ‘there is no point’ of coming out to vote.

“In the southeast, there were reports of APGA and LP party agents using materials, phones and other souvenirs to entice voters in Anambra state. In the south-south, multiple states reported a desire for voters to show proof of their vote before being paid, with party agents reportedly compiling a list of their voters in Esan Central LGA, Edo state.”

Speaking further,CDD observer data showed that across the southwest zone INEC officials arrived on time and promptly commenced the process in over 80% of observed polling units.

“This trend is broadly consistent across the six geo-political zones. In Anambra state 75% of polling units had INEC officials who arrived on time with voting commencing on average at 8:41. There was even a report of INEC officials in Benue state having slept over at the polling unit to avoid late coming.”