Ahead of the August 15 Osun State governorship election, INEC, the EFCC and the ICPC warned against vote buying. Despite those warnings, reports from several polling units showed that vote trading continued during the election. Voters reportedly received between N15,000 and N40,000 in some locations. Others received food items or promises of bank transfers in exchange for their votes.
INEC, EFCC, ICPC Promise Crackdown
INEC Chairman, Prof. Joash Amupitan, had promised tougher measures against vote buying before the election. Speaking to journalists at the commission’s headquarters in Osogbo on August 1, Amupitan said INEC would work with the EFCC and ICPC to tackle vote trading.
He said vote buying had moved beyond physical cash payments at polling units. According to him, political actors now use digital transfers and pre-election account harvesting.
“We recognise that vote-buying has increasingly shifted from physical cash exchanges at polling units to digital financial transfers and pre-election account harvesting,” Amupitan said.
He also said INEC could work with the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit and the Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation.
The commission planned to deploy plain-clothes anti-corruption officers around polling units. They were expected to monitor the area and arrest suspected buyers and sellers. The ICPC also took its campaign against vote trading to Osogbo. Its officials visited markets, motor parks and other public places to warn residents. The commission said it would deploy operatives across the state’s 30 local government areas on election day.
Vote Buying Reportedly Continues
Despite the warnings, voters reported several cases of inducement across the state. Political agents allegedly distributed cash and food items before and during voting. Some voters also provided bank details after agents promised to transfer money once they verified their votes.
In some polling units, voters alleged that security personnel watched the transactions without intervening. The ICPC had not announced arrests linked to the reported vote-buying incidents at the time of the report. For some voters, the situation raised questions about the effectiveness of the agencies’ preparations.
‘A Vote Was N30,000, N40,000’
A voter in Ward 05, Boripe Local Government Area, said political agents approached voters with cash. The voter, who requested anonymity, said he initially received an offer of N15,000 after arriving at his polling unit around 10am. He declined the offer.
However, after problems with the BVAS machine delayed his voting, he said the amount had increased by the time he voted around noon.
“That time, a vote was being bought for about N30,000,” he said.
The voter also alleged that a political party created a register near the polling unit for people who agreed to support it. He further claimed that four female police officers watched the process without intervening.
“Four women police were present and they saw what was going on. But they didn’t raise a finger to stop it,” he alleged.
According to him, vote inducement had started weeks before election day. He said adults in his ward received N10,000 from a political party about three weeks before the election. The distribution was presented as an empowerment programme.
Ilesa Voter Reports N40,000 Offers
A voter in Israel Ward 8, Ilesa East Local Government Area, also described election day as a marketplace for votes. The voter, Roseline, told The PUNCH that agents of the Accord Party and APC offered money to voters at her polling unit.
She alleged that the amount reached N40,000 per vote. However, she said some voters collected the money and later voted for candidates of their choice.
“Several people that got money eventually voted for their preferred candidate. Police and NSCDC operatives saw how they were paying for votes, but they didn’t caution those involved,” she said.
Her account highlights one challenge facing vote buying in Nigeria. Politicians can pay voters, but they cannot directly see how they vote because the ballot remains secret.
Garri Distributed Before Voting
In Ile-Ife, another voter said political inducement started before voting began. The voter said a political party agent distributed a mudu of garri to people at Oja Titun market on election morning. He said the woman who distributed the food was known to him.
“She shared a mudu of garri to all of us in the market that Saturday morning before the election commenced. She didn’t make any request from us, but it was obvious she wanted us to vote for a particular candidate,” he said.
The voter said an agent later paid him N20,000 after voting started. The accounts show the different forms of inducement reported during the election. Some voters received cash, while others received food or promises of transfers.
‘It Was A Bazaar’
Former INEC National Commissioner, Prof. Lai Olurode, described the atmosphere around some polling units as “a bazaar”. He said the situation could make it difficult to determine whether voters were making independent choices or responding to financial inducements.
“You won’t know what the people are really voting for. Is it the highest bidder, or are they just voting their conscience or a combination of the two?” he asked.
Olurode, however, said INEC should not carry the blame for the problem. He attributed vote trading to a wider culture of monetising elections. He said many political actors now believe they need huge amounts of money to win elections.
“Corruption is widespread, and you cannot isolate your electoral practices and say we want to shield our electoral regime from corruption,” he said.
Olurode called for stronger voter education programmes. He said such efforts should continue beyond the period immediately before elections.
“Maybe we should do more in terms of voter education, so that we don’t turn elections into a bazaar,” he said.
‘The Grandfather Of All Vote-Buying’
Osogbo-based lawyer, Chief Abimbola Ige, described the reported scale of vote buying as alarming. Ige alleged that some voters received as much as N50,000.
“What happened on the 15th of August 2026 was the grandfather of all vote buying,” he said.
He warned that the problem went beyond the money exchanged at polling units. According to him, politicians are increasingly relying on cash instead of policies and ideas to win elections. However, Ige said the election also showed that money might not always determine the outcome. He pointed to the re-election of the incumbent governor despite the reported inducements.
“It is becoming apparent that money is losing its magic wand in our electoral processes,” he said.
Parties Deny Vote-Buying Allegations
The political parties mentioned in the allegations denied engaging in vote buying. The spokesperson for the Ademola Adeleke Governorship Campaign Council, Pelumi Olajengbesi, rejected allegations that the party bought votes. However, he alleged that about N110bn was brought into Osun in two tranches before the election.
“Initially, there was N60bn and another N50bn, making about N110bn in a country where people are suffering, where the economy is suffering,” he alleged.
The allegation could not be independently verified. The Osun APC spokesperson, Kola Olabisi, also denied that the party bought votes. He argued that the APC candidate was popular enough to win without resorting to vote buying.
“Anybody can make an allegation, but any allegation that is not supported with fact is as good as torn paper,” he said.
The reported incidents have renewed concerns about the effectiveness of measures designed to stop vote buying. Despite warnings from electoral and anti-corruption agencies, voters reported cash payments, food distribution and other forms of inducement at different locations.
The development has again raised questions about how Nigeria can protect the secrecy and integrity of the ballot as political spending continues to shape elections.
Read also: INEC adopts Osun election as benchmark for 2027 — Amupitan
