Effanga disclosed this at an event organised by Zenith Environmental and Social Protection Network at the weekend in Abuja.
He described the menace as a societal problem and reflection of Nigeria’s level of development, noting that introduction of technologies into the electoral system has made it difficult for politicians to rig elections through other means.
He said: “If people are buying votes, it means votes are important, and they can only win on the basis of the votes.
“Because votes now count, politicians are going after the votes by whatever means. They find out that perhaps, the easiest means to get the votes is to pay the people to vote for them. And that is what is happening.
“On the part of INEC, our interest is that anybody who is qualified to vote is given an unfettered access to vote. And when the person has voted, the vote is counted and results are declared on the basis of the counted votes.”
Effanga said vote buying has become a national malaise, and the responsibility of everyone interested in strengthening democracy is to ensure it is reduced.
On how this can be achieved, Effanga stressed the use of information and communication.
According to him, “we need to let voters know why they should not sell their votes. Because when they do, they cheapen the votes based on the amount they collect. They say to them (politicians), ‘you can go ahead and do whatever you want to do with me and my future, economy and everything.”
On moves by INEC to halt the development, he said the commission has ensured that at the polling unit, a cubicle is kept at a distance.
“As much as possible, we are trying to do that, depending also on the space we have in the polling unit. Sometimes, when you go to these polling units, they are mostly in congested areas because these are communities where you have a lot of facilities.
“It could be by the market, school and square. So, the space is limited to a number of people in the polling unit. Now, we also need to talk to the voters themselves.”
We need to talk to the political parties that they should try and win on the basis of how they have sold their plans and programmes to the electorate.”
EFFANGA noted further: “But there is another point about vote buying that I will like to raise. I think that, too often, people lay emphasis on what I refer to as the ‘retail part’ of vote buying.
“There are different levels of vote buying and selling. There is a wholesale one, where long before the election, the aspirants are going around meeting the elites (big men and women, like themselves, political leaders, sometimes, religious and community leaders) and making promises to them and offering them things. These people, in return, endorse them to the extent that something has been exchanged. We hardly talk about that.
“There is the middleman level of vote buying, which happens at party primaries. Suddenly, we now talk of delegates who have become super rich. That is also vote buying. But the elites do not talk about it because they are the ones involved. On election day, the person opens his or her retail shop to sell votes. That is the one everybody talks about.
“If we are committed to stopping it, we should talk about it all through. It is a societal problem and a reflection of our level of development. If people are unable to access the good things of life, they give their votes for any amount of money. But by the time our economy improves, those things would be things of the past.”
Effanga said INEC is working to ensure the issue of diaspora voting is laid to rest once and for all.
He said: “Any Nigerian in any part of the world should be able to vote because the person is a Nigerian and what happens in Nigeria is of concern to the person.”
He added, “Even if he is not affected directly, the relations are affected. So, if the person is willing to vote, he should be given opportunity to vote. For now, the only way the person can vote is to come and vote physically in Nigeria because the law, so far, makes it that way.
“We do not have provision for polling units outside the country. Even when that comes, we, also, have to be careful. It is something that has to be done. It will be done eventually.”
