INEC
The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, has pleaded with the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Ibrahim Idris, to ensure that vote buying at polling units is stopped.
Yakubu made this known on Wednesday when IGP Idris paid him a visit ahead of the upcomign Ekiti and Osun states governorship elections.
The INEC Chairman stated that buying of vote was a malpractice and violation of the Electoral Act.
Yakubu said: “Our democracy can never be on sale to the highest bidder, ours is a democracy and not a plutocracy for the rich.
“Therefore, I would like to appeal to the IGP, as we approach the EKiti and Osun governorship elections and as we move to the 2019 general elections to pay particular attention to this disturbing practice.
“We will be happy if the police will deploy special forces beginning with Ekiti and Osun to ensure that what transpires at the polling units is nothing but the will of Nigerians.
“Only the votes cast freely by citizens would determine who wins the elections not the inducement of citizens by the use of cash at polling units during elections.”