With the improvement on the integrity of the electoral system comes a fresh challenge posed by enemies of democracy who are determined to undermine the credibility of the ballot box.
The saving grace, in our opinion, is the willingness of the electoral umpire, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), to deploy more technology in the conduct of elections. With it, the country has measurably evolved from the menace of ballot box snatching and other forms of electoral malpractices that had stymied the development of democracy in the country.
However, just as the forces of good are working to ensure that the electoral system is increasingly stress- free, efficient, credible and fair, the forces of evil are bent on sabotaging any effort that would guarantee that the will of the people prevail and that the right caliber of people are elected to govern.
The evil forces, having been defeated in their ballot box snatching antics and other crude systems, have since become more daring in the use of inducement as a tool to undermine the will of the people.
In recent election cycles, especially the off- season polls, the polity has witnessed heightened vote for cash situations. While inducements have long been a part of the nation’s political evolution, never in recent years has the country witnessed the crude and brash resort to deployment of raw cash by agents of desperate politicians to win elections.
The despicable act of demanding that impoverished Nigerians provide evidence of whom they voted for in exchange for a meager sum of money has, in recent times, become a standard pattern in electoral contests.
The situation was so bad that political agents, cut across party lines, went about this reprehensible action in the full glare of security agents.
No scenario captures how endemic this practice has become than the brazen insistence of these political miscreants on being video-recorded while embarking on their illicit acts.
Still, the security agencies are unrelenting in their bid to ensure that the system is thoroughly cleansed. The recent arrest and arraignment of vote buyers by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) under the watch of its chairman Abdulrasheed Bawa brings a vista of hope that this menace won’t continue unchecked.
Four persons arrested for alleged vote buying during the July 16 governorship election in Osun State were recently arraigned by the EFCC.
The EFCC, Ilorin Zonal Command, arraigned Adeyemo Abiodun, Abidogun Ismail, Jimoh Kazeem and Yekini Abiodun, for offences, contrary to the Electoral Act 2022.
The defendants were alleged to have conspired to trade vote for cash and thereby committed offences contrary to the law.
The suspects were arrested at Polling Unit 002, Ward 2, Ababu, Isale Osun, Oshogbo except for Abiodun that was nabbed at Unit 2, Isale Agbara, Oshogbo.
However, the presiding Judge, Justice Mathias Agboola, granted the defendants bail in the sum of N2 million with one surety each in like sum.
He said the surety must not be below grade level 13 in the state civil service.
The case was adjourned to November 21 and 28, 2022 for hearing.
This was clearly part of the fall out of INEC’s attempt to address the vote buying and selling menace which led to an Inter-agency Consultative Committee on Elections Security, ICCES, by co-opting EFCC, and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Commission, ICPC in the fight.
Although the arrests pale in significance when compared with the large number of alleged perpetrators, it was a bold start all the same. Also, we would encourage them to extend their arrests to high-profile sponsors. For unless the root cause is properly addressed, new branches will continue to grow no matter how many are cut down.
Nevertheless, we commend the EFCC boss and the Illorin zonal command for their effort just as we support the new fight against vote buyers.
Having taken the lead in this renewed fight, we would urge the other stakeholders in the process, including the judiciary and police to follow suit.
To achieve the desired effect, it is the opinion of this newspaper that the voter who is so hungry as to sell his or her birth right is not exonerated. They, too, deserve to be punished. There is definitely no excuse enough for such action, not even the sweeping claim of ignorance would surmise, especially in the urban areas.
This is more so as incidences were recorded where voters, during Anambra governorship election last year and Osun gubernatorial election this year, openly engaged in such dealings.
No doubt, there is hunger in the land.
But there is also a choice to be made. In recent times, the realisation that the cause of our woes lie with the persons that we vote into political offices is compelling enough for people to rethink and re-trace their steps
We also do believe that a lot more aggressive enlightenment needs to be done in this regard, especially in the rural areas. It is worrisome that the agencies like National Orientation Agency (NOA) which ought to have been at the vanguard for such sensitisation have been docile.
It is our considered opinion that the menace of vote trading must be stopped at all cost.And it’s a task for everyone. The concern is that if vote-buying and selling are left unchecked, it will not just undermine the integrity of the electoral process, but stymie all efforts to ensure the commonwealth does not go to the highest bidder as we have been trying to check for decades.
