EKITI POLL: Opposition faults INEC, protests vote-buying, glitches

Opposition parties on Sunday criticised the conduct of Saturday’s governorship election in Ekiti State and several by-elections across the country, alleging vote-buying, ballot irregularities and administrative lapses by the Independent National Electoral Commission.

The National Publicity Secretary of the Nigeria Democratic Congress, Osa Director, described the Ekiti governorship election as peaceful but questioned allegations of vote-buying and other irregularities.

“Although the Ekiti election was violence-free, it was marred by allegations of vote buying. I don’t know why INEC allowed people to get away with vote buying right under the watch of its officials.

Although the parties acknowledged improvements in logistics and the largely peaceful conduct of the polls, they expressed concerns that recurring complaints could undermine confidence in future elections.

“Again, I don’t know how some persons were also in possession of voters’ cards that don’t belong to them. That also begs the question of how they managed to access it.

“These are inadequacies and lapses that must be corrected before the 2027 General Elections,” Mr Director stated.

He added that the election should serve as a test of INEC’s readiness ahead of future national polls.

Parties raise concerns

Also reacting, the National Publicity Secretary of the Social Democratic Party, Rufus Aiyenigba, acknowledged improvements in election logistics but accused INEC of damaging public confidence.

“On a general note, there was a remarkable improvement in logistics movement. But the rampant vote-buying was a dent in the integrity of the election.

“Also, the deliberate shutting out of the SDP, by way of not allowing for the uploading of the names of party agents for the election, rendered the election a nullity,” Mr Aiyenigba said.

He called on citizens to defend democratic processes and resist actions capable of weakening public trust in elections.

The Labour Party also expressed reservations over the Enugu North Senatorial District by-election.

According to the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Ken Asogwa, the election delivered both positive and negative outcomes.

“The election presented a mixed record of commendable performance and significant oversights on the part of the Independent National Electoral Commission,” Mr Asogwa stated.

He noted that while voter accreditation through the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System performed satisfactorily, the omission of the Labour Party’s name from the ballot paper raised concerns.

“Such an omission risks the outright cancellation of the entire poll in the district, as it effectively disenfranchised a substantial number of our supporters,” he said.

Post-election protests

The opposition reactions followed protests from candidates involved in several by-elections conducted across the country.

In Nasarawa North Senatorial District, Labour Party candidate and former Information Minister, Labaran Maku, rejected the outcome of the election won by the APC candidate, Danladi Envulu-anza.

Mr Maku described the exercise as a sham and alleged irregularities including BVAS failures, ballot manipulation and external interference.

In Rivers State, candidates of the Labour Party and Action Alliance also rejected the result of the Rivers South-East Senatorial District by-election won by the PDP candidate, Olaka Nwogu.

The candidates cited logistical challenges, vote-buying allegations and concerns over result management, while indicating plans to challenge the outcome through legal channels.