Vote trading was widespread in the governorship elections in Ekiti and Osun states, as people were handsomely compensated for selling their votes, the European Union Support to Democratic Governance in Nigeria (EU-SDGN) Election Observation Hub has revealed. Voting Info- Check
The Hub, set up for election monitoring, includes the Kukah Center (TKC), TAF Africa, Nigerian Women Trust Fund (NWTF), Yiaga Africa, International Press Center (IPC) and Center for Media and Society (CEMESO), Daily Trust reported.
Prof. Bolade Eyinla, who read the findings of the Hub at the presentation and dissemination of the report on the Ekiti and Osun Off-cycle Elections (which held in June and August, 2026 respectively) in Abuja yesterday said people got up to N50,000 for selling their votes.
“The scourge of vote trading is becoming a pandemic,” he stated adding that, “if we don’t do anything about it, the sanctity of the vote and freedom of choice is beginning to come under severe threat and pressure.”
Prof. Eyinla said vote dealing has been perfected and standardised at a high level and that the culprits are not penalised.
“Maybe IG (Inspector-General of Police) will tell us if they are arrested. And the outcome of that is that everyone has taken on a sense of impunity.
The data suggests that 77% of the 84 verified occurrences were vote dealing and party agents were the principal participants in at least 90% of these cases.
“In Osun, it was 69 percent and as I said, we have yet to hear of any reported arrests, investigations or prosecutions, given the scale of vote trading that went on in both elections,” he said.
He explained how it was done, saying the voter would mark the ballot paper to show his choice, but then hold it up so that the people who are tabulating the result can see it.
“And, of course, once the agent confirms ‘he’s done what we asked’, the money is forthcoming.
“I thought it was about 10,000 payment but the report from Osun said that people got N50,000. “If you divide N50,000 by the number of voters in Osun, how much that will amount to in terms of the volume of money involved,” he remarked.
The Hub also advocated for presenting results from the ward level, saying that most of the abnormalities are done at that level.
“I think for the presidential election it’s 8,809 (wards). We want to see results at ward level, uploaded. “If you can upload polling units then you should be able to upload results at the ward level,” he asserted.
The Hub, however, applauded the Independent Electoral Commission for conducting a near-perfect election, saying that the election started early and the results were almost the same as those produced independently.
It also commended security agencies for ensuring peaceful voting in Ekiti and Osun.
In his remarks, Dr Akin Akingbulu, the Executive Director, Center for Media and Society (CEMESO), said that the Hub deployed 598 observers across all the 16 Local Government Areas in Ekiti on June 20 and 823 observers across all the 30 LGAs in Osun on August 15.
“That is more than 1,400 trained Nigerians who observed, counted, verified and reported,polling unit by polling unit, so that the discussion we have today is based on facts and not on sentiment,” he stated.
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