Now to the.news analysis.
For some years now, primary elections of political parties, as well as general elections in Nigeria have been highly characterized by vote buying.
This has made it very difficult for voters to elect credible politicians of their choice into public offices at all levels of government.
In today's news analysis, Omonigho Edaah of our Reportorial Unit x-rays the implications of vote buying for Nigeria's democracy.
Cue In: Vote buying is ....
Cue Out...real sense of it.
That news analysis on the implications of vote buying for Nigeria's democracy was written by Omonigho Edaah of our reportorial unit.
WRITE-UP/EDAAH
VOICE ANALYSIS/VOTE BUYING
Vote buying is not new among most Nigerian politicians who want to win elections into public offices at all costs.
The ugly trend has assumed alarming proportions as the electorate publicly sell their voting power to money bags, who most times demand electronic evidences of the ballots cast for them before they pay.
The primaries of the different political parties ahead of the 2023 General Elections in Nigeria and that of the Ekiti 2022 Governorship Elections are alleged to be characterized by vote buying.
Hunger and poverty, as well as the marginal propensity to survive in a harsh economy are some of the reasons people sell their votes to corrupt politicians during primary and general elections.
Observers of the nation's political system have described vote buying as an electoral fraud which portends great danger for Nigeria's democracy, and its developmental pursuit.
Vote buying also helps to slow down the Nation's political process as political opponents use it to contest election results in Court.
It is pertinent for Nigerian electorate to know that their voting power is scared and as such should be cast for candidates with credibility and not to be sold to the highest bidder
They should know that when they sell their votes, they mortgage their future, that of their children and the yet unborn.
This will no doubt go a very long way to denying themselves of serious minded politicians who are willing to serve, and pave the way for greedy politicians who seek public offices to satisfy their selfish interests.
Politicians who buy votes to win elections will want to recoup the money they spent after the election and neglect the development needs of the people for a very long time.
When this happens, the people lose the moral justification to complain about bad governance, which they sold their votes to institutionalize in the first place.
Unfortunately, Nigerian electorate appear to be oblivious of the fact that selling their votes to politicians will plunge them into another four or eight years of pandemic poverty, hunger and suffering, and the cycle is perpetuated by the same politicians through another round of vote buying.
Therefore, the Nigerian electorate should stop selling their franchise. Instead, they should vote for only politicians who have the capacity and competence to deliver on their mandates.
If votes are not up for sale, politicians will not have votes to buy. That way, credible candidates will emerge at party primaries, and national elections will produce political office holders who will hit the ground running and produce positive results at all levels of government.
The time has come for Nigerians to do the right thing by saying NO to vote buying. Politicians should fear God and stop inducing the electorate with money. They should test their popularity at the polls by allowing the people to vote freely.
The electoral umpire INEC and civil society organizations should do more in voter's education by frequently running jingles on radio and television in different Nigeria languages to sensitized electorate on the negative implications in vote buying.
Furthermore the electoral umpire INEC should device a way to discourage vote buying practice in the Nigerian electoral process as well as partnering with EFCC and other financial crime agencies to prosecute politicians and electorate indulging in vote selling and buying, to serve as deterrent to others.
It is only when voters are allowed to vote without being manipulated that an election can be said to be credible, free, and fair in the real sense of it.
WRITE UP/EDAAH
