By Michael Oche
The Peering Advocacy and Advancement Centre in Africa (PAACA) has raised concern over the failure to prosecute perpetrators of vote-buying, saying the lack of consequences is fuelling the persistence of the practice in Nigeria’s elections.
PAACA executive director, Ezenwa Nwagwu stated this on Wednesday while addressing journalists on the outcome of its observations of the just concluded Osun State governorship election.
The organisation said its field observers in partnership with Legis360 recorded voter inducement or interference by party agents at about two in every five polling units observed.
Nwagwu described vote-buying as one of the major threats to the integrity of the election, arguing that the practice continues largely because offenders are rarely prosecuted.
The PAACA executive director said the situation demonstrated that Nigeria’s challenge was no longer simply about having laws against electoral offences, but ensuring that those who violate the laws face credible and effective sanctions.
The organisation therefore called on the National Assembly and prosecuting agencies to strengthen the legal and enforcement framework against vote-buying and ensure that perpetrators are brought to justice.
Nwagwu also urged political parties to adopt and enforce internal rules against voter inducement, saying political actors must take responsibility for protecting the integrity of elections.
“The good news for Osun’s voters is that this result can be independently verified, and it holds,” he said.
He added that, “But the harder truth is that a correct count is not the same as a free and fair election. Vote-buying, low turnout, and polling units shut down by violence tell us the real work of reform lies not in the counting, but in the conduct.”
Nwagwu also commended President Bola Tinubu for directing the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to unfreeze the Osun State Government’s statutory allocation account, saying that the action boosted the President’s democratic credentials.
He argued that the President’s intervention helped to douse tension in the state and created a more conducive environment for the conduct of the election.
PAACA said its review further identified low voter turnout as a significant concern, noting that only about 43 per cent of registered voters were accredited for the election.
With 2,339,544 registered voters and 1,010,684 accredited voters, the organisation said more than half of registered voters did not participate in the poll.
PAACA equally raised concerns about access for persons with disabilities, saying provisions required by law were absent at roughly one in four polling units observed.
On the transparency of the results process, the organisation said IReV had made independent verification possible but identified areas requiring improvement.
It said the same result sheet was uploaded more than once in six polling units without clear indication of which version was current, while handwriting and clerical errors were common on result sheets.
The review also identified discrepancies between accredited-voter figures on some physical result sheets and INEC’s official accredited-voter figures, suggesting that the paper and electronic records did not always fully reconcile.
PAACA called on INEC to move towards capturing election results electronically at source and to make IReV a machine-readable, time-stamped and version-controlled public dataset.
It also urged INEC to enforce compliance with provisions guaranteeing access for voters with disabilities.
The organisation commended Osun voters for what it described as a largely peaceful election and INEC personnel for the near-universal availability of essential election materials.
However, it maintained that the lessons from the Osun election should go beyond verifying whether votes were accurately counted.
According to PAACA, electoral reforms must also address the conditions under which citizens cast their ballots, particularly the use of money to influence voters.
It stressed that unless vote-buying offenders are effectively prosecuted and punished, the practice would continue to undermine public confidence in elections and weaken democratic accountability.
