The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has
said there is a limit to what it can do in terms of curtailing vote buying
during elections in the country.
The INEC Commissioner representing Niger, Kogi and Kwara
States in North Central Nigeria, Professor Mohammed Sani Adam, made the
assertions in Minna, Niger State during a visit to monitor the ongoing voter
registration exercise in the state.
Prof Adam explained that vote buying is a national issue, a
sociological problem and is a dimension to jeopardize the process of credible
elections in Nigeria.
” There are the anti-corruption agencies like the ICPC and
the EFCC, and other security apparatus basically saddled with the
responsibility of monitoring criminal activities, ours is to conduct elections
not monitor criminals”
“INEC has nothing to do as far as vote buying is concerned,
what INEC can only do is to ensure that the polls are free, fair and
all-encompassing, and also to ensure that polling units, security, materials
and the process of the polling are fully observed according to the electoral
act,” he noted.
The INEC Commissioner also cautioned religious and
traditional leaders across the country on the need to advise their subjects to
desist from selling their votes during elections while advising politicians to
always form the habit of accepting defeat during elections.
” The problem with most politicians in the country is they
don’t always look at political offices as service to the Fatherland but as a
means of selfish aggrandisement or acquiring wealth as the only business of the
day, and that necessitated winning elections by all means,”.Prof. Adam stated.
He further revealed that more funds have been released to
enhance activities of INEC across Nigeria, to meet up with the 31st July
dateline of closing the voter registration.
Prof. Adam commended the effort of people in Niger State on
the massive turning out for the voter registration exercise, adding that the
Commission has set up a special scheme to ensure all IDPs across the country
are captured to participate in the general elections.
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