A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Anambra State, Kodilichukwu Okelekwe, says poverty and ignorance are the main reason vote buying thrives during elections in Nigeria.
Okelekwe, a senatorial candidate of the APC for Anambra Central zone, made this claim during a stakeholders’ meeting of the party in the state on Wednesday.
He lamented that because of poverty and ignorant, people do not consider the suffering they would go through in four years, rather will prefer to collect paltry sums to cast their votes.
He said, “Vote-buying is now an issue in election process, but we know that it is a passing phase. Before now, it used to be ballot box snatching, but innovation in election process has phased that out.
“Today, it is vote buying, and we know that too will pass away some day. Vote buying is made worse by poverty and ignorance. Someone will not consider the good education, good healthcare and many other dividends that come from good governance, but will rather insist on collecting money to vote.”
Okelekwe lamented that vote buying was one of the reasons a party like APC with its over 450,000 members in Anambra could not poll enough votes to win the state.
“I have analysed the membership of our party in the state and found that we have over 450,000 members, yet people have won governorship of this state with less than 200,000 votes. So why can we not poll our votes together and make a governor?” he added.
