Nigeria: Ekiti Elections – Party Agents Arrested for Sharing Money at Polling Stations

Security operatives arrested at least five party agents who were sharing monetary incentives at different polling stations in the gubernatorial elections in Ekiti today. Some of them were arrested at Jonathan memorial School, Ajilosun in Ado Ekiti.

Two gubernatorial candidates had raised alarm, accusing APC and PDP agents of openly sharing money without any intervention by security operatives.

According to Bisi Omoyeni, the candidate for Mega party, people were being openly given money to vote. He said “some political parties had been buying votes by giving money to voters openly.but said he was confident of winning despite this because he was the best of all the candidates.

“My expectation is that I will win this election despite vote-buying. Ekiti people do not want those ones, they know them and they know I am the best.

“I learnt people have been distributing money to buy votes. INEC should not allow this, security agents should not allow this. If we allow this to continue.”

Speaking on the same issue, the candidate for Accord party, Abiodun Aluko said “the All Progressives Congress of openly distributing N5,000 cash to voters to influence them to vote for their candidate while APC leaders were paying N5000 per vote, the PDP leaders were paying N4,000 apart from the N3000 they paid to the accounts of civil servants and pensioners.

“What we are doing is not an election. It is money competition. The PDP started it by paying N3,000 to accounts of civil servants and pensioners. I am a pensioner and I received an alert of N3,000 to vote for PDP.

“I called the pension office that is my pension now N3000? They told me that it was mobilisation to vote for PDP candidate and that we would meet on the field for the balance.

“All okada unions have been given millions of naira to buy the votes of their members. On the surface, you will observe that there is no fighting but the absence of violence does not mean that there is peace.

“Security agents turned blind eyes to the distribution of money which was done openly. This is so because there is so much poverty in the land and many believe that today is the only day they can get something from the government that has not done anything for them.”

Source: Vanguardngr

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