VOTE BUYING BY OTHER MEANS

Nick Dazang 

Even in its previous, bigger reincarnation, that is before Enugu State was created out of it, Anambra State fascinated Nigerians. In its present form and configuration, Anambra, like other States named after geographical landmarks, continues to fascinate and to entrance.

Anambra State excites and beguiles us with its character, color and cerebral propensities.
Lest we forget, Anambra State is the home of the Great Zik of Africa. Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe was celebrated for his erudition, urbanity, newspaper publishing and memorable sound bites. Recall:”No condition is permanent”. “History shall vindicate the just” etc. It is the home of the Biafran war lord, Dim Chukwuemeka Ojukwu. It is the home of Dr. Chuba Wilberforce Okadigbo, Nigeria’s former Senate President, enamoured with sartorial elegance and quotable quotes. Remember his famous put down of Zik(“The ranting of an ant”) and his swift show of contrition afterwards.
It is the home of former Vice President, Dr. Alex Ekwueme, a polyvalent intellectual par excellence. He it was of whom Justice Samson Uwaifo, the Chairman of an anti-corruption tribunal, had pronounced in 1983:”Dr. Ekwueme left office poorer than when he entered it and to ask more from him was to set a standard which even saints could not meet”.

Above all, it is the home of Chinua Achebe, the incomparable writer and polemicist. He blessed us with seminal works which made a stalwart statement that Africa had a proud civilization and history prior to colonization.
Apart from being a home to a constellation of stars, Anambra State stands on a tripod: its administrative capital at Awka; its commercial port city of Onitsha; and the industrial hub at Nnewi. For good measure, and even though there is no solid data to support it, it is reputed to be the home of Nigeria’s largest number of billionaires.
In spite of its pecuniary endowment, Anambra’s politics, since the advent of the Fourth Republic, has been defined more by godfathers of all manner of colorations, rather than money.

At one time, the Uba Brothers held sway. Then they were supplanted by the Uber war lord himself. Though he was trounced and demystified in 1983 by a lesser known Dr. Edwin Onwudiwe of the Nigeria Peoples Party(NPP), when he sought a Senate seat on the platform of the National Party of Nigeria(NPN), Chief Ojukwu re-emerged like the Phoenix and dominated the politics of Anambra State. He did so even in the aftermath of his demise. His All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and his legasees still command considerable influence in the State.

It is instructive that in addition to godfatherism, which is not peculiar to Anambra State, violence has hall marked Anambra State politics in the last two electoral cycles. The agitation of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB) and the activities of sundry, unknown gunmen, who unleash death and mayhem, have impacted Anambra State’s politics negatively.

Before the 2017 Anambra State off-cycle Governorship Election, IPOB reportedly deployed, among others, a formidable hate campaign, door-to-door mobilization, a slew of Short Messaging Services (SMS), and the deliberate enlivening of the grapevine and rumor mill in order to dissuade voters from turning out to vote.
In 2021, there was an escalation. The environment for the offf-cycle Governorship Election seldom existed, all thanks to violence. Ahead of that election, INEC State offices were attacked in Anambra, Imo and Enugu States. The INEC State office headquarters in Awka, Anambra, was set ablaze. Generating sets meant for the election, numbering 376, were burnt. Not less than 50% of the non-sensitive materials meant for the election were burnt. So was the pavilion meant to serve as Collation Center for the election. The Independent National Electoral Commission(INEC) was so embattled that it sought for presidential intervention ahead of the election.
Due to the violence that has attended Governorship elections in the last two electoral cycles, voter turn out has plunged to its lowest. From a healthy 68% in the 2007 Governorship election, voter turn out plummeted to a mere 10% in the 2021 off-cycle Governorship election.
Certainly this dismal voter turn out should concern stakeholders in the electoral process. For even though such a niggardly turn out does not invalidate the outcome of an election or its sanctity, it does undermine them. It means that whoever wins will eventually not govern with a full or robust mandate.

Perhaps concerned by this appallingly low voter turn out, Professor Chukwuemeka Charles Soludo, the incumbent Governor of Anambra State, who is contesting for a second term on the platform of APGA, had announced a cash reward for his party’s supporters.
During a recent campaign rally at Umunze, Orumba South Local Government Area, Governor Soludo had promised to give cash incentives for every ward won by his party. He had said:”When we were campaigning for the Senate, we knew we were going to win every ward in the South Senatorial Zone, but we still had some incentives. Any ward that APGA won received N1m, and we won all the wards in Orumba South.
“We promised each of these wards 1m and next week, we will redeem it. The ward that comes first will get N5m, the second N3m and the third N2m. That was the deal. For November 8, any ward that wins again will get N1m, while the first three performing wards will get N5m, N2m and N1m respectively”.

This is not only a PRIMA FACIE case of inducement in lieu of the off-cycle Governorship election scheduled for Saturday, 8th November 2025, but a clear and unmistakable case of vote buying by other means. This should draw the ire of the Election Management Body (EMB), namely INEC, and other stakeholders. It should also greatly interest our anti-corruption agencies whose remit it is to check such transgressions of the Electoral Act.
For Governor Soludu, this is unbecoming and behind the pale. As an academic and a former Governor of our Central Bank, this is most unedifying. His promises go against the sanctity of our elections. They suggest that he may wish to win via methods that are underhanded.
Additionally, after serving for four years as Governor of his State, one would have expected him to campaign based on his record and his accomplishments, and not to resort to some disingenuous ploy of buying votes in advance of the election. Furthermore, the case for incentivizing voters, on account of apathy, is untenable. This is especially given the fact that the security situation in Anambra State has improved significantly when compared with the the last two electoral cycles.