Yiaga Africa faults Ekiti gov election over alleged widespread vote buying

By Boye Oyeyemi

A prominent non-governmental organization, Yiaga Africa has expressed concern over the prevalence of vote buying during Saturday’s governorship election in Ekiti State, describing the trend as a major threat to the integrity of the electoral process.

The disclosure was made in Ado-Ekiti when the civic organisation’s Executive Director, Samson Itodo, spoke with journalists. In his remarks, he said the scale of voter inducement recorded across the state was disturbing.

According to him, it remains difficult to determine whether the impressive turnout witnessed during the election was driven by genuine voter enthusiasm or influenced by monetary inducements.

Itodo noted that stakeholders had an opportunity to curb the practice but failed to achieve significant progress, adding that the development remained one of the major drawbacks of the exercise.

Despite the concerns, he said the election was largely peaceful, with improvements recorded in electoral logistics and the deployment of officials by the Independent National Electoral Commission.

Comparing the exercise with the 2022 governorship election, Itodo stated that a significantly higher number of polling units opened on schedule, while voting commenced earlier in most locations across the state.

He, however, disclosed that election observers confirmed incidents of violence in some local government areas earlier identified as potential flashpoints, including Ikole, Oye and Ilejemeje.

The Yiaga Africa chief further urged security agencies to swiftly address threats to public order and ensure that the collation process remains secure, transparent and credible in order to sustain confidence in the outcome of the election.