Obi Condemns Vote Buying, Faults Reps’ Refusal to Criminalise Practice at Party Primaries

|By Chinwendu Nwani

Former Anambra State Governor and 2023 Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi, has renewed calls for decisive action against vote buying, warning that Nigeria’s democracy will continue to weaken unless the practice is tackled at its roots.

Obi made the call on Sunday in a post on his verified X handle, where he described vote buying as a “cancer” that has caused deep damage to Nigerian society and consistently undermined the credibility of the country’s electoral process.

Reacting to recent developments at the National Assembly, Obi expressed disappointment over what he described as a missed opportunity by the House of Representatives to take a firm stand against the practice. He criticised lawmakers for refusing to criminalise vote buying at the level of party primaries, arguing that such a decision protects a flawed system rather than securing Nigeria’s democratic future.

According to him, credible elections cannot emerge from corrupt foundations, stressing that national development remains impossible as long as inducement and bribery are tolerated within the democratic process.

Obi maintained that any meaningful effort to end vote buying must begin at the primary stage of elections, noting that measures introduced later in the process would lack the strength to endure if the problem is not addressed from the start.

He further warned that the culture of vote buying has spread beyond mainstream politics into town unions, village associations, clubs and even student elections, describing the trend as a dangerous sign of widespread moral decay fueled by bad political examples.

The former governor insisted that a system where votes are bought cannot be described as a true democracy, but rather a criminal marketplace where integrity is traded for money.

Obi concluded by urging Nigerians to demand reforms that prioritise integrity from the very beginning of the electoral process, stating that a new Nigeria remains possible only if citizens boldly confront and reject vote buying in all its forms.