CSOs campaign against vote buying in A/Ibom

Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in Akwa Ibom State yesterday said they had begun door-to-door sensitization campaigns against vote buying in the 2019 general elections.

The chairman of Akwa Ibom Civil Society Organizations Forum, Mr. Harry Udoh, said the sensitization which would be done in the local dialect in communities was necessary to stop a repeat of cases of vote buying as it happened in Ekiti and Osun elections where voters sold their votes for N4, 000 and N7, 000.

Udo commended the state office of the Independent National Electoral Commission for relocating 22 polling units hidden in private residences of politicians and other locations in the state.

He said previous elections in the state and the country in general were marred by massive rigging, violence and voters intimidation; while votes were awarded to the winners of the 2015 elections.

He stated that there were rumours, talks and plans of private armies raised by politicians in the state to prosecute their unholy activities in next year’s elections, and calling on security agencies to checkmate the impending danger.

“For us at the civil society organizations forum we will keep engaging to ensure that we educate the masses not to sell their votes. We will keep at it until the people know that they should not sell their votes. We will keep at it until we get to the place where elections are issuebased and the people will be able to interrogate the politicians to elect the people of their choice,” he said.