Amidst the security warnings against vote-buying which has characterised elections in the country, the All Progressives Congress (APC), Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and other political parties have distributed money to wards and polling units for today’s governorship election in Osun State.
Some anonymous APC and PDP members who spoke with PUNCH said they have concluded plans to pay between N2,000 and N10,000 per vote to avoid being outplayed by each other during the election.
The PDP had intended to share N2,000 to any interested voter in friendly and neutral areas, while N5,000 would be distributed to each voter in unfriendly and fiercely competitive areas.
Anonymous PDP chieftain and mobiliser in an interview said the party had no choice but to make provisions since the APC is in power and they might want to induce voters.
“The party had no choice but to make such provisions so it wouldn’t be outplayed by the APC. You know the APC is in power at the centre and in the state and the party has more governors than the PDP, so they naturally would have more funds from donations. So, we can’t go to bed as if they won’t induce voters.”
Another said: “We have mobilised since early in the week so the security agencies, who may be loyal to the APC, don’t humiliate us.”
Similarly, a chieftain of APC said the party may spend up to N10,000 per vote and has planned about N2 million per polling unit stating that it would be an embarrassment for them to lose the gubernatorial election.
“Osun is a state we cannot lose, so we have to do what is necessary. It will be an embarrassment if we lose the election. APC is Osun and Osun is APC. So, we have made provision for voters to be rewarded for voting for us.”
Apart from the two major parties, the Accord Party and Labour Party, both of which are top contenders, are also said to be planning to ‘reward’ voters, though with a lesser amount.
