Hours into the Osun state gubernatorial election, alleged incidents and patterns of vote buying have been reported across the state.
The New Diplomat gathered that the two leading parties: the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), have been inducing voters with money ranging from N5,000 to N10,000, according to eyewitnesses.
A voter in Olorunda Local Government Area (LGA), who spoke with The New Diplomat on the condition of anonymity said APC offered him N7,000 while PDP offered him N5,000.
“When I got to my polling unit, the party agent of APC came to meet me and promised to give me N7,000 if I vote for them. Also, I heard that PDP is sharing N5,000,” the voter said.
In some parts of Osogbo Local Government Area, it was learnt that APC gave voters a sum of N10,000.
The New Diplomat further gathered that before the election, the two leading parties were alleged to have masterminded plans to induce voters. The two parties had distributed huge funds to the 30 local government areas in the state.
A high-level member of the PDP who spoke with The New Diplomat said each ward in the state received at least a minimum of N700,000, adding that about N5million was distributed to each local government.
“We have mobilised since early in the week so the security agencies, who may be loyal to the APC, don’t humiliate us. We distributed about N5million to each local government, so from there they will disburse the money to each wards and polling units,” the member said.
Despite the large presence of the security agencies including the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), in the state, no arrest has been made as of press time.
An operative of the EFCC who anonymously spoke with The New Diplomat in Osogbo said arresting the party agents inducing voters can be difficult. He explained that the vote buying was not displayed openly, adding that the operatives of the anti-graft agency will not want to harass anyone based on hearsay.
“We can’t arrest anyone because this vote buying you are talking about is not open. They are doing it secretly. And because today is election day, we can’t just make an arrest so as not to escalate the mood of the election,” the operative claimed.
