SDP Presidential Candidate Condemns Vote-buying in Ekiti

SDP Presidential Candidate Condemns Vote-buying in Ekiti

Victor Ogunje in Ado Ekiti

The presidential candidate of Social Democratic Party (SDP), Prince Adewole Adebayo has condemned vote-buying in the just concluded governorship election in Ekiti State, describing it as a threat to democracy.

Adebayo expressed this concern at a session in a statement yesterday, lamenting the impact vote-buying on the polity, especially during elections.

Adebayo lamented that it was a sad day for Nigeria and democracy where the voters sold their conscience for pecuniary gains.

He said the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) “cannot be blamed for the show if shame exhibited by the voters, but the law enforcement agents and the political parties.

“The Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) worked quite well. Of course, there are hitches reported here and there. That is expected of technology. Less than one percent of the BVAS equipment had problems.

“INEC officials were not involved any malpractice as they didn’t forge any results, whatever the people voted is what INEC recorded.

“You can’t blame INEC if somebody collected money and voted. It is not INEC’s job to go into the hearts of the people. The locust of the crime has shifted from INEC to law enforcement agents and political parties.

“There is no victim here because the voters voluntarily sold their votes. The victim is actually democracy.”

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