Former presidential candidate Peter Obi has raised fresh concerns over what he described as the dangerous escalation of vote buying in the electoral process, warning that the practice is crippling the nation’s democracy and deepening bad governance.
Obi spoke on Saturday shortly after casting his vote at Polling Unit 019, Umudim Akasi village in Agulu, Anaocha Local Government Area of Anambra State.
The Labour Party chieftain lamented that democracy in the country “is deteriorating,” blaming politicians and citizens who sell their votes for immediate gains at the expense of long-term development.
According to him, reports he received from across communities showed that vote buying during the ongoing governorship election had risen to alarming levels.
“What you see today is that vote buying is on the scale of N20,000 to N30,000,” Obi said.
“The question I ask is: if you sell your vote for N30,000, what are you going to be paid next month? By selling your vote, you’re selling no school, no hospital, no job. You’re selling away your future, and that is very worrisome,” Obi said.
Obi, who has observed elections in other African countries, said the level of brazen inducement he witnessed in Nigeria does not exist
He warned that as long as voters continue to exchange their ballots for cash, the country will remain trapped in a cycle of poor governance, mismanaged public resources and deepening poverty.
According to him, the real cost of vote buying is not the money exchanged on election day but the collapse of essential public services that follow.
He stressed that citizens must understand the link between their choices at the polls and the quality of leadership they receive afterward.
“People need to know that when you sell your vote, you are directly endorsing the same hardships — lack of jobs, broken schools, failing hospitals,” he said. “It is not grandstanding; it is the reality of why things don’t work.”
The former Anambra Governor also charged security agencies to confront the problem with seriousness, saying that vote trading cannot thrive without the active collaboration of political actors and the silence of institutions meant to safeguard electoral integrity.
