Abuja (Sundiata Post) – As 48 governorship candidates from 48 political parties jostle for 1,246,915 votes in the Osun state governorship election holding on Saturday, September 22 (today), some of the contestants and their political associates have allegedly offering N10,000 to voters for vote buying.
According to Punch reports, the representatives of at least one of the contestants were using the WhatsApp social media platform to woo Permanent Voter Card holders, who are residents of Osun state, to sell their votes.
This was despite attempts by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to curb vote-buying and selling especially in the Osun election.
The newspaper said the associates of the contestants cleverly hid their identities.
To track the identities of the buyers and the politicians they were working for, The Punch correspondents reportedly connected to an online link that in turn linked him with a WhatsApp number 08120569530, where he was asked a series of questions to ascertain if he actually had a permanent voter card and if he was an Osun state indigene.
The administrator later allegedly promised that N10,000 would be deposited into the correspondent’s account number at 6am on Election Day. The correspondent was asked to send his account detail, age, town, ward and unit to claim the amount.
The administrator said: “You’ll receive bank alert 6am on the Election Day. Don’t forget to pass this good news to all your friends and family. Make sure you add us to you(r) phone book and don’t forget to send this to all your friends and family living in Osun state. Expect our call anytime from now.”
NAIJ.com gathers that it was, however, difficult to ascertain the party or governorship candidate that initiated the payment process. The attempt by the newspaper’s correspondent to call the number, using Truecaller, a mobile app that finds contact details globally, to trace the owner, was not successful.
Almost immediately, the administrator reportedly sent a message that the correspondent would be stopped from enjoying the N10,000 vote-buying price.
“Please, no WhatsApp call and if you keep calling, we’ll block you,” the administrator allegedly wrote.
Meanwhile, one of the contestants was said to have started distributing money to the ward leaders who would identify names of their party members on the voter registers and pay them ahead of the poll.
According to The Punch, a source close to one of the politicians said on Friday, September 21 that money had been moved to where the distribution would be done in order to pay for the votes.
He said: “There is nothing they can do to stop vote-buying, especially in this election because politicians are desperate to outdo one another in their bid to buy votes.
“They have started bringing money out but this time round, because of the noise over it, they will be more discreet in sharing the money. Money has been given to the leader of the party in our area but they are yet to tell us how much.”
Recall that Oyinlola reportedly said Ajibade was the most qualified candidate to succeed the present Governor Rauf Aregbesola because he has untainted political record and unblemished integrity.
Oyinlola spoke at the ADC rally in Osogbo, the capital of Osun, where the governorship candidate was presented to the supporters of the party.
Source: Naija.ng
