Edo guber: Vote buying led to large voters’ turnout –CDD

The Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD-West Africa) Election Analysis Centre (EAC) has said that vote buying and fake news characterised Saturday’s off-cycle governorship election in Edo State.

The Chair of CDD-EAC, Prof. Adele Jinadu, on Saturday at a briefing on the preliminary statement on the election, in Abuja, also alleged that the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and main opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) engaged in massive vote buying ranging from N5,000 to N10,000 in the presence of security agents, leading to increase in voters’ turnout.

He said the fake news included the denial of voters from using the umbrella despite the donwpour and the purported arrest of a PDP thug in Egor, which the CDD-EAC fact-checkers later found out to be the arrest of a robbery suspect in Lagos as far back as 2022.

“The heavy downpour reported in some parts of the state, and the reported prevention of people from coming to the PUs with umbrellas, may have affected turnout of voters. Another observation is the likelihood of rains damaging the paper based ballots used by INEC.

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“On the morning of the election, several fake images and videos circulated across social media platforms, particular WhatsApp. CDD Countering Disinformation War Room also observed cases of old images being repurposed to spread false narratives.

“For example, the CDD War Room received an image with the claim that a thug associated with the PDP was arrested in Egor. The verification of the image by our fact checkers indicated it came from the arrest of a robbery suspect in Lagos as far back as 2022,” Prof. Jinadu said.

He said that 34% of all claims made on Election Day focused on the PDP candidate, 26% of the claims targeted the APC candidate, while 14% of the claims on Election Day focused on INEC.

“It was observed that the APC and PDP offered between ₦5,000 and ₦10,000 in exchange for votes. The incidents of vote buying were recorded in Edo Central, particularly in Orhionmwon LGA, Ward 10, Polling Unit 014; Esan Central, Ward 5, Unit 4 at Eguare Primary School; and Esan North East, Ward 5, Uromi. Both the APC and PDP were implicated,” he said.

Prof, Jinadu said that similar occurrences were observed in Esan West LGA, Ward 6, at Central Primary School Iruekpen Ekpoma, PU 004, which led to an increase in voter turnout as news of financial incentives spread.

He said, “At Ward 5, PU 4, Awo Primary School, voter account numbers were allegedly collected after votes were cast for a specific party. In Edo South, incidents of vote buying were also reported in Oredo LGA, Ward 12, Ibiwe/Iwegie/Ugbague at Ibiwe I, Oba Market. Both PDP and Labour Party (LP) officials were identified as attempting to induce voters.”

He, however, said that breakthroughs recorded included the arrest of suspected vote buyers in Egor LGA, where officials from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) detained three individuals—two males and one female— who were later removed from the scene.

He said, “However, local residents protested the arrests, accusing the EFCC of unfairly targeting the suspects. A brief confrontation ensued as some residents attempted to obstruct the operatives. Despite these challenges, the CDD commended voters in Edo State for conducting themselves in a calm and peaceful manner throughout the election process.”