In last-minute push, politicians woo voters with gifts

Abdullateef Aliyu, Lagos, Hope Abah Emmanuel, Makurdi & Meluwa Kelvin, Asaba

Politicians, in their last minute push to secure votes, have doled out gifts to the electorate.

In Lagos, the state government recently rolled out palliatives to cushion the effect of naira and fuel scarcity on citizens, according to it.

The government announced the establishment of food banks in various parts of the state for distribution of items to vulnerable families hit by cash crunch.

It would be recalled that the state had earlier announced a 50 per cent reduction on all BRT buses and other transportation services in the state.

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The palliatives were given to the vulnerable, civil servants, among others.

Similarly, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, did his constituency outreach programme on Thursday.

During the programme he doled out 161 cars, 555 laptops for students and teachers, 502 industrial machines for artisans and N200 million for 2,500 traders, market women, artisans and other businesses.

“On the economic front, over 15,000 traders and small businesses have been empowered in various ways,” the Speaker said.

In Kwara State, the government presented cheques totalling N267 million to different artisan groups.

The benefitting groups include the Association of Master Bakers and Caterers of Nigeria (AMBCN), which got N100m; Tricycle Owners Association, N30m; Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria, N50m; National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), N50m and the Nigeria Union of Tailors, N7m.

In Delta, as part of last minute’s push to curry votes from the electorate, political parties in the state are also giving out palliatives to woo voters.

Investigations across the state revealed that residents of Oshimili North Local Government Area received bags of “rice, beans, garri and other foodstuff from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as part of effort to ease the sufferings faced by residents.”

The executive chairman of Oshimili North Local Government, Innocent Esewezie, also joined by other ward 5 PDP leaders, visited camp dwellers to support them with food items.

Also, a few hours to the presidential and National Assembly elections, the All Progressives Congress (APC) gave out N5,000 to party agents, calling it mobilisation fee.

In Benue State, politicians in their last minute push to secure votes doled out gifts to the electorate.

Our correspondent gathered that while some of them doled out dollars by proxy to different groups within their areas of control because of the scarcity of the naira, others distributed detergents and consumables to people at the grassroots.

It was learnt that some candidates of the dominant political parties in the state were all involved in the sharing of gifts to voters.

Meanwhile, some of the politicians are busy coding their gifts by way of electronic transfers, occasioned by the cash crunch, to win their voters.

The executive director of Yiaga Africa, Mr Samson Itodo and the chairman of its Watching the Vote (WTV) group, Dr Hussaini Abdu, stated that the difficulty caused by the scarcity of naira notes may encourage vote buying during this year’s general elections.

They noted that the goal of the naira redesign policy may not be met due to cash shortages, which may encourage people to sell their votes in order to obtain the new notes or any cash for that matter.

“This growing discontent amongst citizens may lead to voter apathy in the form of ‘protest’ which will eventually lead to low voter turnout.

“We are also worried that citizens facing these forms of adversities going into the election may be unable to make informed choices at the polls,” they said.

The executive director, Development Specs Academy, Prof Okey Ikechukwu, who said giving palliatives to associations and groups few days to general elections, was an attempt to sway the choice of members of the group, urged the electorate to vote their conscience.

“Who are they trying to fool in the name of palliatives? What they didn’t give out months ago, why are they doing it now? Members of associations must resist such acts of vote-buying by voting their conscience. And appropriate authorities should act decisively,” he said.