The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) agent in Kaduna State, Yusuf Abubakar, has accused some security agents of compromising and aiding vote buying in the ongoing rerun and bye-elections in the state.
Speaking to Channels Television on Saturday at a Polling Unit 009 in Barnawa, Kaduna South Local Government Area, Abubakar decried the spate of vote buying in the area.
He said, “If you go around, you will see how people are trading on voters. If you go around, you will see it. It is just open, not hidden.”
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When asked if political agents buy votes in front of security agents, the PDP agent said: “Yes, even some of the security agents are being compromised. That is all I could say.”
He, however, could not say if INEC officials were aware of the issue. Abubakar also expressed worry that the voters will be induced to cast their vote rather than giving the freewill to exercise their franchise.
“I can’t say because they are there doing their exercise. I can’t say whether they are aware or not. But we as the political parties and political agents, we know. This exercise is going on.
“I am bothered because people are not willin to vote for their own choice rather than to be given money before they vote,” Abubakar stated.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is conducting bye and re-run elections in 80 Local Government Areas (LGAs) across 26 states of the federation, a total of 4,613,291 Nigerians who have collected their Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs) are expected to participate in the exercise.
The elections are conducted to replace members who died or resigned their memberships of the national and state assemblies, as well as rerun elections at designated constituencies or polling units (PUs) as ordered by the election appeal tribunals.
According to INEC Chairman, Prof Mahmood Yakubu, the elections would fill vacancies in not less than three senatorial districts, 17 federal and 28 state constituencies spread across 80 local government areas, 575 registration areas/wards and 8,934 polling units involving 4,904,627 registered voters, out of which 4,613,291 PVCs have been collected.
States where the elections will hold include Ebonyi, Yobe, Kebbi, Lagos, Ondo, Taraba, Benue, Borno, Kaduna, Plateau, Akwa Ibom, and Anambra.
Others are Cross River, Delta, Enugu, Jigawa, Katsina, Adamawa, Bauchi, Bayelsa, Kano, Nasarawa, Niger, Oyo, Sokoto and Zamfara.
