Yiaga Africa: Major political parties engage in vote buying during Edo poll

• Ahead of the Edo election, Yiaga Africa had alerted that politicians may resort to violence and vote buying during the poll.
• On Saturday, Yiaga Africa reported incidents of vote buying and polling unit disruption during the election.

The executive director of YIAGA Africa, Samson Itodo,  has said that major political parties engaged in vote buying during the Edo governorship poll in the state.

Itodo spoke on Monday on ‘Morning Brief’, a programme on Channels Television.

The Yiaga director said all political parties were complicit in election infractions.

According to him, YIAGA and other civil society organisations (CSO) that observed the election noticed that parties handed out N5,000 to N10,000 naira to entice voters.

“One thing I can tell you is that all of the parties are complicit in the infractions that happen because of this election,” Itodo said.

“All, at least the major political parties, were all involved in vote-buying, as we have stated in our midday situational statement, as other observer groups have also stated, because the major political parties were seen buying votes, 10,000, 5,000, Naira.

“So, I think all the parties are complicit, and we will, later today in our statement, provide further details as to how all of this played out in the course of the results collation process, but all the parties are complicit in committing these infractions.”