Bauchi Bye-Election: Vote Buying Rampant At Polling Units

Rampant cases of vote-buying have been observed in several polling units (PU) in Saturday’s bye-election in Bauchi State.

Some voters have alleged cash inducement at the B/Mutum Primary School, PU 017 in Bauchi Local Government Area.

Recall that the Appeal Court had ordered a re-run election in 42 polling units across four state assembly constituencies. The constituencies are: Bauchi Central; Zungur/Galambi, Ningi 1 and Madara/Chinade.

It was observed that there was a massive turnout of voters as electorates trooped out as early as 7:45am.

Massive turnout was recorded at the Maraba Lima Katagum, Polling units,010 and the B/Mutum Primary School, PU 017.

Addressing journalists, Tobias John, the Presiding Officer of the Polling Unit at Maraba Lima Katagum, said,

“Everything is going smoothly, and the electorate are really cooperating with the rules and guidelines we have given them.

“The Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) machines are working perfectly and faster and we have not experienced any technical problems with them.”

Speaking earlier, the State Commissioner for Environment, Danlami Kaule, commended INEC for the prompt arrival of election materials.

“The process of this election is going well, as you can see that we have started casting ballots around 8:00am and everybody understands the situation.

“We don’t have any issues or problems, and the election would definitely be successful.

“There was no delay from INEC as the election materials arrived around 7:30am and the INEC officials as well as the security personnel had been on ground since that time.”

However, some voters alleged that agents of a political party were buying votes.

Some electorates claimed that they were allegedly promised N3000 each by a party agent at B/Mutum Primary School, PU 017.

Umar Ismail, a voter, revealed, “So far, the election has been going smoothly, only that some party agents were trying to buy our vote by promising us money, but you won’t even know anything is happening.”