2023: INEC Has Nothing To Do Regarding Vote Buying, Says Commissioner

Professor Mohammed Sani Adam, the INEC Commissioner representing Niger, Kogi and Kwara States in North Central Nigeria, has stated that the body has nothing to do as far as vote buying is concerned.

Adam made the remark during his visit to Minna, Niger State to supervise the ongoing registration exercise in the region.

According to him, vote buying is a national issue, a sociological problem, and a dimension meant to jeopardise credible elections in the country.

"There are the anti-corruption agencies like the ICPC and the EFCC, and other security apparatus basically saddled with the responsibility of monitoring criminal activities, ours is to conduct elections not monitor criminals”

“INEC has nothing to do as far as vote buying is concerned, what INEC can only do is to ensure that the polls are free, fair and all-encompassing, and also to ensure that polling units, security, materials and the process of the polling are fully observed according to the electoral act", Adam said.

He also warned religious and traditional leaders in the nation on the need to instruct their subjects against selling their votes during elections.

Adam told politicians to cultivate the habit of accepting defeat during elections.

"The problem with most politicians in the country is they don’t always look at political offices as service to the Fatherland but as a means of selfish aggrandisement or acquiring wealth as the only business of the day, and that necessitated winning elections by all means", he added.