The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has begged traditional rulers to groom their subjects on how to react positively to vote-buying and selling.
Mr. Adedeji Soyebi, Board Chairman, The Electoral Institute, the research arm of INEC disclosed this at a news conference on Kogi and Bayelsa election organized by NESSACTION, a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) in Abuja.
According to him, vote-buying and violence were a major problem during the Kogi and Bayelsa polls and it is the duty of every Nigerian to get rid of the bad act.
His words, “Another aspect which is glaring is the issue of vote exchange; violence and the twin brother vote buying are becoming a primary trend in the electoral process in the country.”
“People were willing to sell their votes in spite of all we have done to discourage vote buying; it looks as if we were actually advertising because people were just willing to go there and sell their votes.
“A lot of work has to be done by all especially the traditional rulers, they have lots of role to play here, there are so much INEC can do to improve the system but very little we can do about attitudinal change.
“We cannot legislate against attitudes, there is nothing that can be done about attitude, it has to come from within and we must all work against it.”
