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Paying Party Agents On Election Days Not Voter Inducement – NNPP Spokesman

Ladipo Johnson predicted a run-off in the February 25 presidential poll and maintained that Rabiu Kwankwaso will use his “advantage” in the 19 northern states and five southern states to edge out his co-contestants.


Ladipo Johnson, a spokesman for the presidential campaign of NNPP’s Rabiu Kwankwaso on Channels Television’s The 2023 Verdict on February 20, 2023

Ladipo Johnson, a spokesman for the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) and the presidential campaign of the party’s flag bearer, Rabiu Kwankwaso, has said that paying party agents on election duty is not voter inducement.

He spoke Monday on The 2023 Verdict, Channels Television’s special election programme.

According to the NNPP chieftain, part of the money realised from the purchase of forms “will be used on logistics on election days either to get your people to the collation centre or what have you, to operate situation room, wifi, etc”.

Asked whether the NNPP would be paying party agents at the polling units in the February 25 and March 11 general elections, he said, “Paying agents at the polling units is almost normal now, in any country. For instance, in the United States, they pay their canvassers.”

Johnson said though there are party loyalists who would choose to do the job without any cash incentive, the situation in the country has “impoverished” the people in the last eight years that party agents won’t mind a “stipend” for being the eyes of the party at polling units.

“You have someone sitting there for God knows how many hours and you expect that person to come out with a result sheet, you expect that person to object to anything funny at the polling units, so, most times, you do pay them,” he said.

“There are people who will tell you I’m a member of this party, I don’t want it. But unfortunately for us, after the seven or eight years now, Nigerians are more impoverished than ever.

“So, you’ll find people who say to you that: ‘Yes, I’m a member of this party but if I can get a stipend for sitting down in one place for seven hours and being your eyes, so be it’. That’s different from inducing me to vote for you. Totally different.”

He also said Nigerians should expect some major announcements by heavyweights endorsing Kwankwaso in a few days’ time.

Predicts A Run-Off

The chieftain further said there is nothing wrong with the ‘cult-like following’ of Kwankwaso and expressed optimism that his candidate would get 25% of votes in at least two-thirds of all the states in the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory, as required by Section 134 of the Nigerian Constitution.

Johnson predicted a run-off after the presidential poll and maintained that Kwankwaso will use his “advantage” in the 19 northern states and five southern states to edge out his co-contestants.

Speaking on his permutations on how his candidate would breast the tape on February 25, the party’s spokesman said, “The mathematics is simple. In the 19 states of the north, in all humility, we know that the NNPP will make its 25% in all those 19 states plus the Federal Capital Territory. If you are talking about an outright win, that leaves looking for five states in the entire south and I believe that we have those states.

“All the states in the North-West, especially of course, Kano, Kaduna, Jigawa, Katsina, then you begin to go to the North-East: Borno, Gombe, Bauchi, Yobe, places like that. Go to the North Central as well.

“The volume of votes you will get from those places will be way above the volume of votes that any candidate will bring on the table. If we get the five states in the south, then it is game settled. If we don’t then, with the volume of votes, then, it will go to a run-off.”