A Coalition of Civil Society Organisations, CSOs, and the Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room, NCSSR, have expressed disappointment at the conduct of the Edo Governorship Election.
The CSOs alleged that politicians openly bought votes from electorates for as low as N5000 and a loaf of bread.
The Group made the disclosure in a statement co-signed by Yunusa Z. Ya’u, Mimidoo Achakpa and Franklin Oloniju, on Saturday, saying that in some cases, voters were induced with food items.
The statement reads: “Situation Room observers reported widespread instances of blatant vote buying and selling across several polling units, despite the huge presence of security personnel.
READ MORE: #EdoDecides: “APC, PDP Party Agents Bribing Voters With N10,000″ – YIAGA Alleges
“The price of votes ranged from ₦5,000 to ₦10,000 per voter in several locations, including PU08 and 09 Ward 2, Owan-East LGA; PU 02 Ward 2, Etsako-West LGA; and several polling units in Egor, Oredo and Owan-West LGAs. In some cases, voters were also induced with food items such as bread.
The group also commended security agents over the arrest of the alleged two vote buyers in George Idah Primary School, Ward 2, Oredo Local Government Area.
INFORMATION NIGERIA reports that the Situation Room is made up of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) including Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre (PLAC), CLEEN Foundation, Action Aid Nigeria, Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD), Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD-West Africa), YIAGA Africa, are TAF Africa.
