Co-convener of the Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room, Mma Odi, has warned that vote buying remains a major threat to Nigeria’s electoral process, saying the practice was widespread during the Ekiti State governorship election and could worsen ahead of the 2027 general elections if urgent action is not taken.
Speaking during an interview on ARISE News, Odi said observers deployed by the Situation Room and its partners witnessed extensive vote trading across several polling units during the election.
“We saw widespread buying of votes,” she said.
According to Odi, security personnel failed to take decisive action against the practice despite its open occurrence in many polling units.
“The police people and civil defence, they did not lift a finger,” she stated.
She described the situation as one of the most disturbing aspects of the election, noting that vote trading was carried out openly.
“In many polling units we visited, it was trading, like in the marketplace, trading, pricing and negotiating,” she said.
Odi expressed concern that some voters openly admitted they had come to sell their votes, describing the trend as dangerous for democratic governance.
“We came to sell our vote,” she quoted some voters as saying.
She emphasized that citizens who exchange their votes for money ultimately undermine their own access to quality governance and public services.
“You are selling road infrastructure, you are selling health service delivery, you are selling education,” she said.
Odi maintained that civic education and voter awareness campaigns must be intensified to discourage the growing culture of vote trading.
“It is wrong for Nigerians to come and say, ‘I want to sell my vote,’ as if it is a commodity,” she stated.
The civil society leader warned that unless stakeholders take proactive steps to address the problem, future elections could face even greater challenges.
“What we will see in the 2027 presidential and governorship elections will be worse,” she said.
She called on civil society organisations, the media, security agencies and electoral authorities to work together to tackle vote buying and protect the integrity of Nigeria’s elections.
Odi warned that the credibility of future elections could be severely undermined if vote buying is not decisively addressed, stressing that the trend poses a serious threat to democratic governance and electoral integrity in Nigeria.
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