They promised a crackdown. INEC, EFCC and ICPC warned vote buyers they would be arrested. But when Osun voters arrived at polling units on August 15, the cash was already waiting. In some places, votes reportedly went for N15,000, N30,000, N40,000 or more, turning polling centres into open-air marketplaces, BOLA BAMIGBOLA reports
Ahead of the August 15 Osun governorship election, two issues cast long shadows over the state: rising violence and the growing menace of vote trading.
For weeks, killings linked to rival cult groups unsettled communities across the state. The violence, which intensified about two months before the election, persisted despite visits by the Deputy Inspector-General of Police for the South-West, Adegoke Fayoade, and the Inspector-General of Police, Olatunji Disu.
Bodies continued to surface in different parts of the state, while repeated assurances from security agencies that the perpetrators would be arrested offered little comfort to frightened residents.
With solutions seemingly out of reach, some residents appeared to adopt a simple survival strategy: stay alive until Election Day.
