Even though relative free, buying votes has become part of Nigeria’s political process
The Ekiti State Gubernatorial Election has come and gone, leaving in its trail the sordid and unsavory issue of vote buying. But first, we first commend the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for organising one of the best elections so far. The entire process was devoid of the age long issues of ballot snatching, multiple voting, late arrivals of voting materials, violence, etc. And, as it has attested to by many stakeholders including the United States Mission to Nigeria, the newly adopted bi-modal verification accreditation system (BVAS) “functioned properly in the vast majority of polling stations.” Also, for the first time, before midnight, the people of Ekiti people already knew who their next governor would be.
However, the use of money that was prevalent constitutes an abuse of the constitutional right of the people to choose their leaders in a free, fair and credible manner. Particularly disturbing is that what transpired was a repeat of what happened exactly four years ago during the previous gubernatorial election in the state. In 2018, the report of the coalition of local and international observers on the election attested to a prevalence of vote-buying. One of the observers, Mrs. Virginia Marumoa-Gae, of the United States’ International Republican Institute (IRI) had painted a disgraceful picture of how the slogan, “see and buy” was used to lure voters to show their thumb printed ballot papers in exchange for money. In a tacit confirmation of this ugly development at the time, INEC national commissioner and chair of its legal services committee, May Agbamuche-Mbu said politicians involved in the sordid practice “were clever,” about it. But this is a problem that is beyond INEC.
The issue of vote buying typifies the extent of poverty in our country. Those involved in trading their votes are mostly the poor aged people, unemployed youths, artisans and students. As noticed mostly by several field observers, all the three leading parties in the election were involved in this despicable act which underscores the extent of poverty and illiteracy, especially in the villages and local communities. It is true that most rural dwellers look forward to election period as a time to get something off the politicians who usually abscond and only return at the next election cycle.
We are delighted that INEC is not living in denial about this ugly development that is making a mockery of democracy as contestants engage one another in financial shoot-outs to secure power at all costs. As we have reiterated on this page several times, elections need not to be a zero-sum game that would involve the deployment of cash as was witnessed in the Ekiti gubernatorial poll last week. We must of course add that such recourse to financial inducement is not new in Nigeria, only that the entrepreneurs of vote-buying have now become very brazen.
It is indeed sad that our democracy has today lost its shape essentially because the political parties want to be democratic in a manner that advances only the personal interests of some leaders and not that of the society. Yet until Nigerian politicians begin to imbibe a culture that reflects and promotes good governance, transparency and accountability, our democracy will remain imperilled. Therefore, curbing vote buying, financial inducement, and the general deployment of cash to game the electoral process is critical to the survival of our democracy.
This malfeasance must not be allowed to continue. Vote-buying undermines the essence of democratic freedom to choose, robs the electoral process of moral credibility and denies its outcome legitimacy. Going forward, therefore, the federal government and its enforcement arms must design concrete strategies to deal with this crime in such a way that it deters potential violators of the law. A starting point is to apprehend all known offenders for prosecution.
