2019: Don wants INEC to address vote-buying

A University of Benin lecturer, Dr Ehiyamen Osezua, has said it was high time the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) put adequate mechanisms in place to stop vote buying and other electoral malpractices before the 2019 general elections.
Osezua, an Associate Professor of Public Administration, University of Ilorin, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) yesterday that unduly influencing voters’ choices contradicted ethics of democracy and good governance.
He added that vote buying was contrary to the tenets of participatory governance and therefore portends to democracy in the country.
“He who buys your vote is likely to replenish the source of the funds expended to sway these votes in his favour before thinking of the needs of the electorate and that of society.
“Vote buying is a crime that should be eradicated from our political system, else our democracy will never be able to guarantee delivery of good governance.
“By now, almost 20 years of democratic rule in this republic, politicians ought not to have the temerity to buy votes, and voters, the impudence to collect for votes,’’ he said.
Okezua asserted that governance failure had roots in the tendency of political parties to sway voters through monetary inducements and empty promises.
He said that the psychology of members of the electorate had also been to believe in selling their votes, in the thought that good governance might not be a priority for election candidates.
“The Electoral Tribunal needs to make an example of a party that indulges in vote buying if the person challenging its victory establishes that.
It will serve to make others avoid giving money to get votes which is wrong by every standard,’’ he said.