Reports: Security Agents Arrest PDP Member For Vote Buying

The Punch has reported the arrest of a People’s Democratic Party agent in Ede, the hometown of the party’s governorship candidate for attempting to buy votes in the ongoing governorship election.

The unidentified agent was arrested by security operatives.

According to the Punch correspondent in the town, the agent had attempted to distribute money to voters at the Obada area of Ede in Ede Local Government Area.

The PDP candidate, Ademola Adeleke is from the town. He voted at about 8am today.

All the major parties, including the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC have all campaigned against vote buying, which had dogged previous elections.

On Friday, INEC and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) issued a statement warning that vote buyers and their customers risk being arrested and prosecuted.

According to the statement, vote buying and selling have become worrisome to the two commissions and therefore evolved measures to address the menace.

The European Union (EU) Election Observers also vowed to monitor Saturday’s governorship election with eyes on vote-buying.

Mr Ketil Karlsen, the EU ambassador to Nigeria, said this at a news conference on Friday in Osogbo.

Karlsen said that the EU was hopeful that the modalities put in place by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to check vote-buying during the election would yield positive results.

While commending INEC on its preparation, Karlsen said the global community would be watching the conduct of the election, being the last before the 2019 general elections.

Karlsen, who noted that more than 28 diplomatic observers from different countries were in the state for the election, said EU was committed to the continued consolidation of democracy in Nigeria.

“We are neutral in this election. We are not here to promote any candidate or political party.

“But we are here to promote the process that would lead to credible, free and fair elections in Nigeria and we hope to see credible election on Saturday.