‘The Poor Will Sell Their Votes’- NOA, CSOs Urge INEC, Parties To Sensitize Voters

As the 2023 general elections draw closer, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), political parties, the National Orientation Agency (NOA), Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and the media, have been urged to increase the level of sensitization against vote buying and selling.

Vote buying is a major concern ahead of the 2023 general elections. It would be recalled that INEC recently alleged that some politicians are buying PVCs from poor Nigerians across the country. The allegation was corroborated by the Northern Elders Forum (NEF), which recently stated that some politicians are buying PVCs with as low as N2,000 in the northern part of the country.

In December, Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) urged President Muhammadu Buhari to arrest politicians allegedly buying PVCs from poor Nigerians for the general elections.

In a letter dated December 17, 2022 and signed by its Deputy Director, Kolawole Oluwadare, SERAP said: “Buying of PVCs from poor Nigerians is a threat to fair and representative elections, as it amounts to vote buying, undue influence and improper electoral influence.”

Speaking with THE WHISTLER on Thursday, a public affairs commentator and former 2nd Vice President, Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Bar. Monday Ubani, said that there should be more advocacy against vote buying.

Ubani regretted that because of high level of poverty in the country, politicians are now taking advantage of it to remain in power by buying votes from vulnerable Nigerians, stressing that poverty must be tackled headlong to permanently prevent such from happening during elections.

“The poverty that politicians have shared and ensured that everyone is a victim of has made it possible for them to easily buy votes,” Ubani said.

“Eradicate poverty! As long as people are poor, N5,000 will make so much difference in the life of some of them who do not know where the next meal is coming from. They are not sure. All along they have been suffering; all of a sudden you’re seeing somebody who wants to give you N5,000, probably, a small kilo of rice and all that. They want to be alive, because it is only a man that is alive that can talk about what Nigeria will become tomorrow.”

He noted that if the perks attached to political offices are reduced and proper monitoring and accountability measures are put in place, bad politicians will give way for those who truly want to serve and not for monitary gains.

“We must continue the advocacy on the issue of political literacy; that people should not sell their conscience, people should not in anyway do the wrong thing by voting in wrong persons when they have the opportunity of voting in the right persons that can change their future and change everything about Nigeria. That education must be a continuous exercise,” he said.

“The perks of office that is available to political office holders are so much. It is only in Nigeria that somebody becomes a millionaire just a day after he has been sworn-in as a governor or a president; I mean multibillionaire even, because of easy access to treasury. It doesn’t happen anywhere, except Nigeria.”

Also speaking with THE WHISTLER, the Chairman, the Centre for Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership (CACOL), Mr. Debo Adeniran, said that INEC and the political parties should be at the vanguard of the sensitization, particularly at the grassroot.

“The first thing we need to do is to give widespread orientation on the implications of vote selling and buying. Both at the the level of punishment that the law prescribes for vote buyers and sellers.

“At the moral and socio-economic level of allowing people who do not deserve to be elected into political offices buy their way to such offices: the moral aspect of it is that you won’t be able to question such political office holders, because those who sell their votes sell their conscience to them. They won’t be able to ask for accountability. That education should go,”Adeniran said.

“Two is that once they know that there are deterrent penalties, they won’t want to sell their votes. Then, everybody should be vigilant at the level of our pre-election activities, activities on election day and post-election activities.”

As a long term measure to eradicate vote buying during elections, Adeniran said that political offices should be made unattractive, adding that there are two many pecuniary gains in holding political office in Nigeria, which is why politicians go to the extent of buying votes from the electorates.

“The long term thing to discourage vote merchandise is to make political office unattractive. It should not carry as much benefits as it is carrying now. It should not carry much influence. The award of contract should go to institutions that are created for it, like the Bureau of Public Procurement,” he said.

He advocated that the National Assembly should strengthen the electoral law, while institutions such as the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) and the Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) be strengthened.

“Institutions like ICPC should be strengthened, so that nobody benefit from awarding contracts. Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) should also be the sole determinant of what politicians get and and it should not be so humongous to the extent that people will want to kill or commit crime to get to positions,” Adeniran said.

On his part, a lawyer and public affairs analyst, Bar. Joe Nwokedi, called on INEC to device a new means of preventing vote buying, particularly at the polling units.

Nwokedi urged INEC to ensure that those who vote at polling units and raise their ballot papers up are arrested and prosecuted.

“Announcement should be made by INEC that once you get into the pulling unit, if you are caught raising your ballot paper by any means, police should get you arrested and arraigned. Let us now see how they (vote buyers) will now monitor who you voted when you collect that money,” Nwokedi suggested.

He, however, noted that while poverty has made it difficult for people not to be tempted to sell their votes, there is need for sensitization to discourage it.

“There is no way you can deploy any tool that will stop somebody from being manipulated to sell vote. That one is practically impossible, because as he is the one doing it himself, you can’t stop him/her. The only thing we can stop is selling it to somebody else to come and do it. But if you give them money two days before the election, in the evening before election, early morning before an election, to go and vote, they will still do that,” he said.