THE National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said vote buying increased by 44 per cent in the North-West zone in the 2023 general elections.
According to the NBS, the menace of vote-buying in the region increased from 23 per cent in 2019.
It added that the zone recorded “a relatively high share of 55 per cent of citizens who were offered money or another favours in exchange for their votes.”
This was contained in a report released by the NBS recently titled, “Corruption in Nigeria: Patterns and trends third survey on corruption as experienced by the population’.”
The NBS said overall the elections recorded 22 per cent of vote-buying, which is five per cent higher than the 2019 general elections with 17 per cent.
The report further disclosed that in 2023, 10 per cent reported that they were not personally offered money or another favour in exchange for their votes, but instead another member of their household was approached, compared to five per cent in 2019.
According to the organisation, 22 per cent of Nigerians said they were directly promised money in exchange for casting a ballot before or during the general election of 2023, while nine per cent said they were offered a different favour.
Vote-buying has been defined as the practice of soliciting a voter’s vote in an election in exchange for cash, commodities, or other favours.
“This represents an increase in both types of vote buying compared with 2019 when personal offers of money were reported by 17 per cent and personal offers of other favours were reported by four per cent of citizens.
“Just over half (55 per cent) of the citizens who were personally offered money or another favour in exchange for their vote in the 2023 general election reported that the offer did not influence their vote choice, while 40 per cent of those citizens said they voted for the person or political party which offered them money or a favour precisely because of the offer.
According to the report, its survey revealed that some electorates were not influenced by their voting decisions even after collecting money or favour.
It added that between 2019 and 2023, the proportion of Nigerians who were personally offered bribes in exchange for votes increased similarly across sexes, urban and rural areas, and age groups.
The NBS discovered that there were little or no changes in the South-West, South-South, and North-Central regions between 2019 and 2023 in their analysis of the vote-buying by zones.
The ICIR reported during the 2023 general elections that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) apprehended over 65 persons allegedly for vote-buying and inducement across 28 states during the governorship and House of Assembly elections that were held on Saturday, March 18.
A statement signed by the EFCC spokesperson, Wilson Uwujaren, said that the commission’s operatives of the Kaduna zonal command on election monitoring duty nabbed 13 suspects.
Kaduna State is one of Nigeria’s North-West states where the NBS said vote-buying escalated in the last poll.
A reporter with the ICIR
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