Officials of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) arrived in Anambra State on Saturday as the governorship election got underway, with operatives stationed at key polling centres to monitor and curb vote-buying activities.
Channels Television reporter, Geoff Uzono, reported spotting EFCC officials at the Community Primary School, Amawbia, in Awka South Local Government Area, where they monitored proceedings.
In a dramatic turn, election activities at Central School Utuh were briefly thrown into confusion after a female voter was covertly escorted to the voting cubicle by a party agent in violation of electoral rules.
Eyewitnesses said the agent followed her into the booth, prompting suspicion. He was overheard asking, “Ego ole?”, which translates to “How much?”, raising fears of bribery.
Election officials quickly confronted the agent, accusing him of trespassing.
But he retorted loudly, “She is the one who asked me to accompany her to show her, and I have every right to follow her!”
Residents present at the polling centre expressed outrage at the agent’s conduct, while other party agents also confronted him.
The situation soon became rowdy, briefly halting voting and accreditation.
Election Observer Alleges Widespread Vote Buying
A Situation Room observer, Dimma Nwobi, raised further alarm over alleged vote-buying and operational lapses in parts of the state.
She said, “We came from Nnewi North, and nothing is happening there. The place has five wards and 13 polling units.”
Nwobi explained that as of 8:15 a.m., INEC and police officials in the area were still stranded without transportation to their polling stations.
She described what she witnessed at another location, “Party machineries were collecting people’s cards. INEC will give them forms to vote, and they give the forms back to party machineries, who will drop them in the ballot box. They are actually buying votes, negotiating. It is sad.”
She added that one frustrated party agent had been “shouting at the INEC official” over the irregularities.
INEC said 2,802,790 registered voters are expected to cast their ballots across 5,718 polling units in 21 local government areas.
Major contenders include Governor Chukwuma Soludo of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Nicholas Ukachukwu of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Paul Chukwuma of the Young Progressives Party (YPP), George Moghalu of the Labour Party (LP), and Jude Ezenwafor of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
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