‘We Documented Politicians Trying To Outspend Others In Ondo Election’

‘We documented politicians trying to outspend others in Ondo election’, so were the words of a key observer group, the Centre for Democracy Development, CDD reacting to the Saturday gubernatorial elections in the state.

The centre alleged what it called serious vote-buying and politicians evading security agents by creating outposts from where they disbursed money to buy votes.

The CDD Director, Idayat Hassan, said in an interactive session with newsmen in Akure, that politicians still devised ways to engage in vote-buying, warning that the electoral offence is fraudulent and poses danger to democracy if it is not adequately curbed.

 -Ondo election 1 –

“We observed a consistent pattern of vote-buying, with those engaged in it adopting tactics to induce voters while evading security officials and election observers.

 “Our observers documented attempts by politicians to outspend each other by disbursing large sums of money to community leaders for onward distribution to voters.

“Deviating from their previous style of distributing cash discreetly at points close to the polling units, the politicians created outposts where voters can go to collect cash after proving that they voted for the vote-buying party.

“Our observers reported that party agents largely stayed away from coordinating vote-buying, but their parties designated someone who is not a party agent and appears to be neutral to direct voters to their outposts to collect cash,” she said.

She also allegedly highlighted in a preliminary report, how parties set aside bulk sums of money, ranging from N150,000 to N600,000, for each polling unit across councils.

-Ondo election 2 –

Hassan further alleged that the monies were distributed to popular figures, especially leaders of youth groups, to share to voters in their areas.

The group commended the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, for the timely arrival of its officials and materials to the polling units across the state.

CDD said in general, INEC officials and security agents arrived at the Polling Units between 7 am and 8 a.m., but pointed out that INEC officials were attacked towards the end of voting.

 Hassan noted that CDD observers reported cases of hoodlums chasing away Registration Area Centre, RAC, technicians in Akure South Local government.

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“The attacks compromised the transparency of the electoral process because the upload of results into the INEC Results Viewing Platform was disrupted.

“These RAC technicians are responsible for maintaining the Smart Card Readers, and preventing them from doing their duty also created problems in the area of maintaining faulty card readers,” she added.

-Ondo election 3 –

The group commended voters across Ondo for their determination and resilience to peacefully exercise their franchise and in many cases defend the sanctity of the ballot in very challenging conditions.