Ondo Guber: Election Peaceful, Rampant Vote Trading

The Ondo State governorship election which was held on Saturday, November 16, was peaceful with INEC officials performing optimally, arriving at their duty posts at 8:00 am. Polling was orderly and peaceful in many units, but low turnout was recorded in several units while a few recorded congestions of voters.

There was a heavy security presence on the streets and at several polling units. More female police officers and para-military security officials from the FRSC and the Civil Defence officials were seen around the polling units. The INEC secretariat was a fortress of security personnel. All the roads leading to the INEC offices were barricaded leaving only one entrance for human and vehicular movements. An Armoured Personnel Carrier belonging to the Nigerian Army was stationed around the INEC office.

There was a display of force as Police Helicopters hovered over the State capital and checking points were available at every 100 metres radius on the major roads. The Policemen were, however, very civil and polite in carrying out their duties. They randomly searched vehicles and asked occupants to identify themselves.

At NEPA Ward 5, harbouring two polling units 16 and 17, accreditation and voting progressed peacefully until an agent was spotted monitoring the way the voters were voting. It was alleged that some voters were displaying their ballot papers to the agent and this led to a heated argument between the agents almost disrupting voting. The agent was driven away from the location for normalcy to be restored.

Vote Trading

Vote trading was rampant at several polling units where different sums of money were being shared with the voters. It was alleged that amounts ranging between N5,000 and N20,000.00 were shared. This was, however, cleverly done. Designated agents located around the polling units would monitor how a person voted and communicate with the cashier who was with the money located at a distance from the vicinity of the polling unit. A mismanagement of this process nearly caused a fracas at Akure town hall with two polling units close to the palace of the Deji of Akure. The crowd involved in the fracas dispersed upon the arrival of officers of the EFCC.

At a heavy polling unit in Oba-Ile, NTA unit 5, there was a heavy turnout of voters. The turnout at unit four at Oloba junction, the voters massed around and looked as if there was a heavy turnout, but our reporter was told the turnout was just about a third of its usual turnout. Some voters complained that the polling cubicle and ballot boxes were in very conspicuous positions making the secrecy of their votes compromised. They alleged they were deliberately made so to make it easy for vote traders to monitor.

Tribond Media encountered the presence of EFCC officials at about four different polling units. They went around in their Toyota Hiace buses wearing their aprons with EFCC inscriptions. The ICPC personnel were not visible at any of the polling units. The moment they got to different centers the atmosphere changed and those trading in votes would disperse only to re-congregate after their departure.

Given their tactics and operational strategies, the EFCC may not achieve much. There may be a need to change its strategy by not going to polling units with their conspicuous labeled aprons. The EFCC should depend more on intelligence gathering and mingling with the voters to get to the moneybags.

Some voters did not come out because they had trust issues with the previous outcome of elections. They believe their votes would not make any difference as the votes may not count. Some youths were seen playing football at SUBEB primary school, Oke-Ogba, Agagu Road. When asked if they had voted, they said they preferred to first play their football and vote later. It was the same story at NEPA Park, Arakale where soccer was going on. Some of them were not yet 18 years old while others said they didn’t have voter cards.

The INEC officials performed reasonably well and the BVAS functioned well in many places. But the BVAS malfunctioned in a few places. For those who vote traditionally in some units, the turnout at this election is abysmally low compared to previous elections. The last off-cycle governorship election recorded less than 25 percent voter turnout. It is not unlikely that the experience may be the same in the Ondo election.

For the voters it was an operation “See and Buy” or “Dibo Ko Sebe” both referring to the act of vote trading. A few arrests of vote buyers have been made. The trend of vote trading is pervasive across the State. Some voters were seen complaining that the voters were trading away another four years of their lives by selling their votes.