Ondo poll marred by vote-buying, says Police Commission

Following the conclusion of the Ondo state off-season gubernatorial election, the Police Service Commission (PSC) has disclosed that it has received reports of vote-buying during the exercise.

It would be recalled that the Department of State Services (DSS) operatives, at the start of the election, arrested a suspected vote buyer at a polling unit outside St. Stephen’s Primary School in Akure, the state capital, where he was reportedly caught with two bags of money to induce voters.

Meanwhile, in a statement by Ikechekwu Ani, the PSC’s spokesperson, it said Saturday’s polls were satisfactory, but there were cases of vote buying, which he noted has become a recurring issue.

The PSC praised the performance of the security personnel deployed to monitor the election.

“The commission staff monitors report shows that the security men, especially the police, arrived at voting centres on time and were alive to their constitutional responsibility of securing the election space,” the statement reads.

“Commission monitors said the police officers were polite, civil, but firm in the conduct of their electoral duties.

“DIG Sylvester Abiodun Alabi, deputy inspector general of police in charge of force CID and who presided over the security management of the election, ensured a seamless deployment of security personnel, with commissioners of police manning all the local government areas.

“He was assisted by other senior police officers, including the AIG Zone 7, AIG Benneth Igwe, the Ondo state commissioner of police, CP Abayomi Oladipo Peter, and Olatunji Disu, CP, federal capital territory.

“There were, however, reports of pockets of vote-buying in some voting centres, which has become a recurring decimal in elections in the country.”

Ani said the conduct of the polls received the commendation of the civil society situation room.

Rasheed Olalekan, a former state assembly member, said violence was low but noted that the election was fraught with vote-buying.

“There was no case of snatching of ballot boxes like we used to experience in previous elections but saw vote buying. They were buying votes for N15,000 per vote,” Olalekan said, noting that voter turnout was impressive.