₦airaland Forum

DoTheNeedful:
Let's not pretend that vote buying started today. The opposition are desperately using every unpalatable thing we grew up to know about Nigeria to tarnish the current APC government.

I saw votes being bought for the first time in 2003 governorship election in my state. It was a strong contest between the PDP and AD candidates then. Cash were openly used to buy voters. In fact, I was given money then too by one of those party agents, though I didn't vote. In the last election in Anambra and other non-APC states, votes were bought too.

The funny thing is that, in most cases, both the party in power and the opposition induce voters or buy votes. The party that loses out is usually the one that screams blue murder on social media. I also believe that the most popular candidate wins at the end of the day.

While vote buying is condemnable, it is dishonest to make it a partisan issue. We can fight many ills in our society if we confront them in a nonpartisan manner. I think vote buying is one of them.