A former member of the House of Representatives and Edo North Senatorial aspirant of the People’s Democratic Party, Honourable Abubakar Momoh, has warned that vote buying may truncate Nigeria’s democracy if it is not checked by all stakeholders.
Momoh who spoke in a chat with newsmen at his Auchi residence accused the ruling All Progressives Congress of paying lip service to the issue of vote buying.
Momoh said political parties used to provide money for mobilization and not to buy vote until the 2016 governorship election in Edo State.
He explained that the money provided by parties was for party agents to move around and canvassed for votes from the people.
Hon. Momoh said credible people could no longer win elections if vote buying is not eradicated.
According to him, “Vote buying is an area where INEC must look into. There was no vote buying in Edo until the 2016 governorship election in Edo. That has now spread to other states.
“What used to happen is for party to provide money for mobilization. The money is to help party agents go round the community. A situation where you carry money to the polling unit is bad.
“The APC Government has a role to play but they will pay lip service to it because they will tell their people to win at all cost. If vote buying is not eliminated it will truncate democracy. It means credible people can no longer win elections.
“Everybody in this country is guilty of vote buying. You even see policemen demanding for money. It means politicians will go and sleep. On the day of election, they will carry money to share.”