2023 Governor’s Election: CDD Discloses Massive Vote Buying, Thuggery Across States

The Centre for Democracy and Development, a political think tank, voiced concerns over the credibility of the governorship election on Saturday, citing allegations of public vote selling, violence, and intimidation as the reasons for their concerns.

According to the organization, even though the Independent National Electoral Commission performed better in the area of logistics deployment, which led to the prompt arrival of electoral officials, there were occasional issues of the Bi-modal Voters Accreditation System not functioning properly. This led to prompt arrival of electoral officials.

Idayat Hassan, the Executive Director of the CDD, issued a preliminary statement regarding the elections for governorship and the state houses of assembly. In the statement, the CDD brought up the issues.

She stated that the information gathered from the organization’s 1,500 observers stationed throughout the country revealed there were more instances of vote-buying during the election for governor compared to the presidential poll that took place on February 25.

This reality, in her estimation, was reflected across all six of the world’s geopolitical zones.

According to Hassan, “observers in all seven states in the northwestern region reported increased reports of vote trading, primarily by political party agents.” In addition to money, other materials including food items, wrappers, and something called a “credit voucher” were used, and those items would be redeemed after the results were determined.

“In a similar fashion, in the North East, political party agents in Taraba sneaked into the line, pretended to be voters, and took advantage of the opportunity to offer cash in exchange for votes.

“There were reports that APGA and LP party agents in the South-East were using materials, phones, and other souvenirs to entice voters in the state of Anambra.

“In the South-South, multiple states reported a desire for voters to show proof of their vote before being paid. According to reports, party agents in Esan Central LGA, Edo state, were compiling a list of their voters.

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“This may be a reflection of the heightened political environment surrounding governorship polls, the importance of local personalities in state-level politics, and the shortages of fuel and Naira,” the author writes. “This could also be a reflection of the importance of local personalities in state-level politics.”

The pro-democracy organization commented on the violent incidents that took place and said that the incidents reinforced the heightened political environment that the elections had been carried out in.

Hassan claims that party agents and other politically motivated thugs were involved in the violent acts that were carried out.
A further statement that she made was along the lines of “a concern that has cut across multiple zones is the reduced presence of security officials.” Especially in comparison to the election for president, observers from all of the states in the south-south, south-west, and north-west regions reported a significantly reduced presence of security personnel.

“As a consequence of this, there have been a number of skirmishes and fights between voters, party agents, and officials. For instance, observers in Enugu reported clashes between party representatives, while other observers in Jigawa highlighted similar issues between self-proclaimed party members.

As a consequence of this, the think tank concluded that voter suppression is a significant factor that influences the way elections are run.

In addition, according to the CDD, thuggery was used in an attempt to disrupt the process.

“There were reports that thugs attacked a polling unit in the Ukanafun Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom, causing voters to flee in fear. In addition, election materials were stolen at gunpoint in the Emelia Local Government Area (LGA) of Rivers State, and the process was also disrupted in the Obio Akpor LGA of the same state, she said.

During their discussion of the role that misinformation played in the election, the Center for Democracy and Development (CDD) brought up the fact that there was a spate of voter intimidation video that was widely circulating online as voters were making their way to the polls, particularly in Lagos.

Anecdotal evidence suggests that the percentage of eligible voters who showed up to cast their ballots at the polls differed from one state to the next. Also speaking, the Chairman of the CDD’s Election Analysis Centre, Professor Adele Jinadu, made this statement.

He explained that states in which the incumbent was facing a significant challenge from his opponent saw a relatively higher voter turnout compared to states in which the challenge was less significant.

Jinadu added that CDD observation data indicated that in the south-south, the general sense of discouragement across the region that was due to the unfavorable outcome of the presidential election affected turnout, with voters declaring that “there is no point” in coming out to vote. This was because of the unfavorable outcome of the election for the presidency.

In addition to this, he stated that the data collected by CDD observers demonstrated that INEC officials across the southwest zone arrived on time and began the process in a timely manner in over eighty percent of the polling units that were observed.

“This pattern holds true across the board for all six of the world’s geopolitical zones. In the state of Anambra, 75 percent of polling units had officials from INEC who arrived on time, and voting began at an average time of 8:41 in the morning.

“There was even a report that INEC officials in Benue state had slept over at the polling unit in order to avoid late coming,” he said. “This was done in order to avoid late coming at the polling unit.”