Africa Daily News, New York can reliably report that some voters at the ongoing Ekiti State governorship election have and are being offered cash bribed which range from ₦10,000 and above by political agents to buy votes for their candidates.
It has also been reported that a group of residents were being bribed at the Mobil filling station, which is situated opposite St. Michael’s School in the Ajilosun area of Ado-Ekiti.
However, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) quickly swung into action by dispersing the political agents and those who received bribes from polling units to further rid the voting centre of these miscreants.
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They were chased away by a team of NSCDC operatives led by acting Deputy Commandant, Haruna Muhammed.
Mr. Musa Faruk, a resident of the area, said that some suspected political agents had been distributing between ₦10,000 and ₦12,000 to the voters who agreed to vote for their preferred governorship candidate.
He explained that at polling units one and two of ward four at St. Michael Nursery and Primary School, the agents would have observed who voters had voted for before giving them the money.
Another voter, Veronica Famigun, who was in the midst of the crowd, said that vote-buying had been ongoing for hours, expressing happiness over the way in which those engaging in the act were dispersed by NSCDC operatives.She stressed the need for security agents to also beam their searchlight on other polling units across the state where such acts might also be perpetrated.
Speaking on the development, ADC Muhammed frowned at the menace of vote-buying by political agents, saying that his men had no choice but to disperse those engaging in the practice. He said that it was important for citizens to understand that elections should be free and fair.
The NSCDC chief advised parents to restrain their wards and keep them indoors as anybody caught in the act of vote-buying would be arrested and made to face the full wrath of the law.
No arrests have actually been made at the scene, as the suspected perpetrators immediately took to their heels and more security personnel have been drafted to the location to prevent re-occurrence.
