The Labour Party deputy governorship candidate in last Saturday’s election in Ondo State, Olabisi Adu- Okunniyi, has condemned massive vote buying and pockets of ballot box snatching during the election.
She said the electoral mandate from such induced voting and perverse process cannot be deemed sacred and credible to breed accountable governance for the people of Ondo State.
Adu-Okunniyi spoke after a consultative meeting with other political stakeholders held to assess the integrity of the governorship elections, a statement by her media assistant, Olubori Obafemi, said.
According to the statement, the deputy candidate, who is referred to the political Amazon of the Obi-dient Movement, said it was a huge shame and mockery for Nigerian democracy and elections that political mandate in Nigeria can only be achieved by vote purchase, ballot box stuffing and falsification of results, which are pillars of subversions of the real will and true mandate of the people.
“While reacting to the innocent confession of a local woman, who said in a viral tv video in an interview of a national television that she was paid by the APC for her vote, Dame Olabisi Adu wondered how any good thing can come out of a corruptive electoral process, affirming that vote buying and induced voting of any sort is a criminal offence punishable under the electoral act of Nigeria.”
She said to save democracy in Ondo State, concerned stakeholders at the meeting resolved not to go to sleep but to be more vigilant to rescue democracy from the clutches of predatory and transactional politicians, who are bent on weaponising poverty and impoverishing the ordinary people so as to make them easy prey to buy with peanuts during elections, since the people have been pauperised by those in government to the point of desperation for survival.
“At the end of our Stakeholders’ consultation, it was popularly resolved that an inclusive Mobilisation committee be urgently set up to initiate a political shadow team to mobilise the good people of Ondo State, especially the Youths, Civil Society and the Obi-dients to engage those is in power and put them constantly on their toes in the interest of mass prosperity of the people of Ondo State and to halt a situation, where government is employ as a business to make the people poor to be able to induce them with peanuts during elections,” Olabisi Adu stated.
