The candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC) in the ongoing Anambra State governorship election, Chioma Ifemeludike, has accused the ruling All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) of vote buying.

Ifemeludike, in a video at a polling unit decried open vote buying, lamenting that voters received as low as 3,000 to 5,000 naira after marking ballots, supervised by party agents amid visible poverty.

“This is criminal, and totally absurd.
If APGA claims to have all the popularity why then are they buying votes? Criminalizing and polluting the polity, wasting our resources rather than channeling it to environmental and human development,” the Nollywood actress said.

“It is so sad what is happening here, there is no election here, it is practically transactions going on all around here. When you vote, they will write your name and proceed to another section.

“When you look around, these are people going through physical hardship that you can almost touch it. These women, these elders are selling their votes for very cheap and it is well supervised.

“It is well supervised by people who are families, agents or whatever they call themselves. There is a particular woman wearing a child and in that section, it is a cooperative transaction.”

She also accused APGA, the incumbent party led by Governor Charles Chukwuma Soludo, of hypocrisy for claiming popularity while engaging in what she calls electoral rigging, echoing her earlier demands for life imprisonment for vote traders.

Election-day reports confirm widespread vote-buying allegations across parties, including from the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate, Nicholas Ukachukwu, and Soludo himself.

Ukachukwu made the allegation during an interview immediately after casting his vote at Polling Unit 012, Umudimala Amaihe Hall, Osumenyi in the Nnewi South Local Government Area (LGA) of Anambra State.

“From what I have been hearing, there has been reports of hitches and security challenges but largely, there have been vote buying,” he said.

“That has become the biggest menace that will witch hunt this country to a standstill. It will come to a point where leaders, who have the opportunity to be in power, will not be able to do anything.”

In spite of the vote buying allegations, the APC candidate expressed confidence that his party would win the election: “I believe God that winning is still possible because the day is still young.”

Ukachukwu, however, commended the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for the early arrival of materials and officials, which he said had improved the electoral process in the state.