POS agents on ground as politicians commence vote buying

Politicians in Imo state have commenced vote buying through Point of Sale (POS) agents.

Our reporter observed at Ihiagwa Ward, Polling Unit Community School II that voting had started but there is massive vote buying for a political party with N2,000 transfer.

A POS machine is available, once a voter identifies, payment will be made.

In a pre-election press conference on Friday in Abuja, the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD) through its Election Analysis Centre (EAC) had said politicians are devising new and creative strategies to engage in vote trading.

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The report was jointly presented by the Chair, CDD-EAC, Prof. Adele Jinadu; Executive Director, CDD, Idayat Hassan; member CDD-EAC, Mrs Ladi Bala; member EAC, Prof. Victor Adetula, and Executive Director, CISLAC, Mallam Auwal Musa Rafsanjani.

They said though vote trading was less prominent during the February 25 presidential and National Assembly elections, politicians devised new modes of vote buying.

The report was jointly presented by the Chair, CDD-EAC, Prof. Adele Jinadu; Executive Director, CDD, Idayat Hassan; member CDD-EAC, Mrs Ladi Bala; member EAC, Prof. Victor Adetula, and Executive Director, CISLAC, Mallam Auwal Musa Rafsanjani.

They said though vote trading was less prominent during the February 25 presidential and National Assembly elections, politicians devised new modes of vote buying.

“Vote trading was less prominent during the presidential election but more creative, Food and material goods replaced cash in many instances, a practice that will be a feature of closely contested polls in Sokoto, Delta, Rivers and Zamfara states.

“However, this is in tandem with presidential races where vote trading is often limited when compared to governorship races which has seen vote trading feature prominently in successive elections. We encourage citizens to make their decision based on choice and not in exchange for goods or cash,” they said.