Olusesan Oba
Politicians have devised a more creative method to carry outvote trading following the limitation of cash due to the Naira redesigning policy of the Muhammdu Buhari’s administration.
The Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD) through its Election Analysis Centre (EAC) said though vote-trading was less prominent during the February 25 presidential and National Assembly elections, politicians devised new modes of vote buying.
“Vote trading was less prominent during the presidential election but more creative, Food and material goods replaced cash in many instances, a practice that will be a feature of closely contested polls in Sokoto, Delta, Rivers and Zamfara states.
“However, this is in tandem with presidential races where vote trading is often limited when compared to governorship races which have seen vote trading feature prominently in successive elections. We encourage citizens to make their decision based on choice and not in exchange for goods or cash,” they said.
They also urged investigating authorities to act against those engaged in vote trading to bring sanity in the nation’s election processes.
The organisation also tasked the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to learn key lessons from its conduct of the presidential poll of February 25 to improve the conduct of the state elections.
