By Jude Atupulazi
An international observer group, Pan African Women Projects, with headquarters in South Africa, says the victory of Anambra State Governor, Prof Chukwuma Soludo, was made possible by vote buying. Soludo, it will be recalled, was announced the winner of the November 8 Guber Poll by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, at the end of voting.
But Dr Mrs Eno Udensi, Head of Mission of Pan African Women Projects, at a press conference, Monday, said they observed that vote buying was rife at many centres, with two major parties involved in it. She however said the ruling party in the state, the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, outdid others in vote buying, a development, she said, aided its Candidate, Prof Soludo, to win the election.
Udensi who said they would furnish INEC with details of what they observed, said the observer group’s agents made their observation by the use of spy cameras.
‘Many don’t know that election observers go with spy cameras which are in our buttons,’ she said, noting that vote buying affected the result as some women were given up to N50,000.
She however, called for the reduction of the number of security agencies in elections, especially as INEC now used electronic transmission of results which took care of ballot box snatching and other electoral malpractices.
Earlier, while reading the group’s report to the press, spokesperson of the group, Ms Bontle Matjila, said the election was marred by what she described as unbelievable vote buying across several polling units.
‘The transaction was likened to the buying and selling activities we experienced at Nkwo Nnewi Market when we went for sensitization of market women to collect their PVCs and build confidence on the 8th of November, 2025,’ she said.
While lamenting poor voter turnout at many polling units they visited, she said election materials arrived between 8 and 9.30 am.
‘From our field observers, it was observed that some polling units, at the commencement of the election, did not have some sensitive materials to display to the party agents such as result sheets. ‘This and many more areas of concern made the election to be rated not transparent by international best practices,’ she said, while thanking INEC for granting their organization the opportunity to promote a sustainable and credible democracy in Nigeria alongside other groups.
Matjila said they observed that many political parties were not part of the campaigns, leaving only APGA, APC, LP, ADC, YPP, and PDP. She said many of the parties did not even erect bill boards, an indication of what she described as their unseriousness.
She however commended what she described as the calm atmosphere recorded in the election.
Matjila hailed the Inspector General of Police and all security agencies for what she described as the good conduct of the election.
