Labour Party presidential candidate in the 2023 elections, Peter Obi, has warned that the culture of selling and buying votes is destroying Nigeria from within, likening it to a ‘slow poison’ that kills both democracy and development.

Obi said those who buy votes are not being generous, but merely purchasing the licence to loot public funds. “They invest in bribing voters today only to plunder schools, hospitals, roads, and jobs tomorrow. They are not leaders, they are licensed looters,” he declared.

But he stressed that those who sell their votes are not victims alone; they are accomplices. “Every time you trade your ballot for money, you mortgage your children’s future for crumbs. You sell away the hospital bed that may save your life, the classrooms that should educate your children, and the jobs that should lift your family out of poverty,” Obi said.

According to him, the billions spent on buying votes prove the priceless value of each ballot. “If your vote was worthless, no one would pay for it. The real power is not in their money, it is in your conscience, your courage, and your choice.”

Obi called on Nigerians to resist the politics of bribery and rise above temporary gains. He warned that the nation faces a stark choice: remain trapped in poverty through vote-selling, or break free by electing leaders who build rather than loot.

“A new Nigeria is possible,” he concluded. “But it will only be born the day we stop auctioning our future for cash.”