Saraki’s aide, others lament vote buying ahead of 2019

Stakeholders, including a senior aide to Senate President, Douglas Baye-Osagie, has described vote buying and inducement of voters as constituting a serious threat to the conduct of credible elections in the country.

Baye-Osagie and others raised the alarm when he represented the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, at the second quarterly symposium organized by the Correspondents Chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Edo State Council.

At the event themed “2019: The Role of INEC, Politicians and Stakeholders in a Credible Election”, the participants decried the excessive spending by politicians in election processes.

Baye-Osagie said money politics and vote buying were fast becoming “a key variable in determining who participates in electoral politics and used to garner votes and voices in Nigeria as godfathers openly confess about purchasing electoral victories.”

He advocated for institutions which will promote an inclusive and transparent electoral process.

He expressed concern that monetary and other forms of inducement, propaganda, and militarization of the polity and manipulation of sectional sentiments that played out in 2015 are still being perpetrated in the build up to the 2019 elections.