INEC Admits Difficulty To Stop Vote Buying

The Resident Electoral Commissioner, Professor James Apam, has expressed frustration at the inability of the commission to have answers to the vexed issue of vote buying.

Apam spoke on Wednesday in Lokoja on the forthcoming Kogi bye-election scheduled for Saturday, August 11, amidst concerns from stakeholders who expressed fear over a repeat of the Ekiti State governorship election where voters were allegedly induced with money before voting.

Briefing the press on the preparation for the bye-election into the Lokoja-Koton-Karfe Federal Constituency, Apam said there was little or nothing the commission could do to prevent people who have made up their minds to sell their votes.

“How do you prevent someone who took a camera into the voting cubicle to snap the party he or she had voted for and later showed it to the party and get paid?”

Professor Apam said it was the duty of various political parties to increase their enlightenment campaigns and education of voters not to sell their votes.

On the bye-election scheduled for Saturday, the commissioner said that they have received the assurance from the security agencies that both the staff and the materials for the election would be secure.