the Independent Commission of Corrupt Practices and other related crimes (ICPC) has called for a commitment against vote buying to be included in the Peace Agreement signed by the candidates of the political parties before the elections.
Anti-corruption agency spokeswoman Azuka Ogugua had this to say in her contributions during PREMIUM TIMES’ weekly TwitterSpaces on Wednesday.
The latest episode of the show was titled ‘#OsunDecide: Lessons Learned from Ekiti’s Gubernatorial Election’.
Other speakers at the event included Tobi Oluwatola, Executive Director of the Center for Journalism, Innovation and Development (CJID), Samson Itodo, Executive Director of Yiaga Africa, and Ene Obi, convener of the Civil Societies Situation Room.
PREMIUM TIMES reported that 13 political parties signed the Peace Agreement for peaceful conduct ahead of Saturday’s gubernatorial election in Osun state.
The Labor Party was absent from the site of the peace agreement meeting held in Osogbo, the capital of Osun state, on Wednesday.
The ceremony is organized by the National Peace Committee led by a former Head of State, Abdulsalami Abubakar, and a cleric, Mathew Kukah.
ICPC said its agents would be on the ground to monitor vote-buying and arrest suspects during the Osun gubernatorial election.
Ms. Ogugua said that the officers would be deployed from ICPC’s office in Osun State and its zonal office in the south-west. She added that they would be supported by officers from her headquarters in Abuja.
The official, who said she did not know the precise number of officers that would be deployed, assured that an adequate number of officers would be placed in the three senatorial districts to provide effective coverage of the elections.
“As you all know, ICPC monitored the latest elections in Ekiti state and we are ready to monitor the upcoming elections in Osun this Saturday.
“Our job in electoral monitoring is to track vote buying. In the last elections, we noticed that there was a lot of vote buying at all levels.
“ICPC would deploy officers from our area office in Osun, supported by staff in our southwestern states. And some of us from Abuja would also join the team of officers.”
PREMIUM TIMES and other media platforms reported how the Ekiti state gubernatorial election, held on June 18, was marred by widespread vote buying.
There were reports of people suspected of working for the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the main opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP) handing out cash ranging from N3,000 to N10,000 to voters to buy their votes.
Anti-corruption authorities comprising both the EFCC and the ICPC later arrested certain party agents who were caught buying votes.
The ruling APC emerged as the winner of the elections with the PDP in third place.
APC’s Biodun Oyebanji garnered 187,057 votes to defeat his closest rivals Segun Oni of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) who garnered 82,211 and Bisi Kolawole of the People’s Democratic Party who garnered 67,457 votes.
How votes are bought – CIPC
Ms. Ogugua said that over the years, the commission had observed various methods used in vote buying during elections.
She said: “From our experience, we notice that things have changed as there are innovations that vote buyers use in different elections, starting with the Anambra elections, where voters cast their votes for their agents to verify that have voted for their election and go to a specific place. place where they (electorates) are paid.
“You will hardly see cash in the election.”
He said that many of these cases had been reported to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Ms. Ogugua also revealed that ICPC is a member of an inter-institutional committee whose objective is to monitor vote buying during elections.
Anti-corruption agencies and security personnel should do more
Mboho Enoh, deputy director of accountability at CJID, urged security forces and anti-corruption organizations to step up their efforts to ensure that people detained for election-related crimes face legal consequences.
Such a move, according to him, will help the faith of many Nigerians.
Mr. Enoh, who said that many security personnel are complicit in vote-buying during elections, further urged security personnel to be vigilant to protect lives and ensure the smooth running of the elections.
YIAGA’s Mr. Itodo also called for increased promotion aimed at dissuading voters from selling their votes for amounts that may barely last them days.