Opposition parties have expressed dissatisfaction with the conduct of Saturday’s governorship election in Ekiti state and several by-elections held across the country, citing allegations of vote-buying, ballot omissions and other electoral shortcomings.
Although the parties acknowledged improvements in logistics and the largely peaceful atmosphere during the polls, they argued that persistent irregularities could undermine public confidence in future elections.
National Publicity Secretary of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), Osa Director, said the Ekiti governorship election was free from violence but tainted by allegations of vote-buying. “Although the Ekiti election was violence-free, it was marred by allegations of vote buying. I don’t know why INEC allowed people to get away with vote buying right under the watch of its officials”, he said.
Director also questioned how some individuals allegedly gained access to voter cards that did not belong to them. “Again, I don’t know how some persons were also in possession of voters’ cards that don’t belong to them. That also begs the question of how they managed to access it”, he added.
He described the incidents as lapses which must be addressed before the next general election. “These are inadequacies and lapses that must be corrected before the 2027 General Elections. I just hope they can also use this as an opportunity to test-run their capacity and level of preparedness for the next poll”, he said.
According to him, the conduct of the Ekiti governorship election and other by-elections could serve as an indication of potential challenges ahead of future electoral contests. “As I said, I hope the noticeable lapses can be corrected to ensure we have a fair, free and credible election next year”, he added.
The Social Democratic Party (SDP) also faulted aspects of the electoral process despite acknowledging improvements in election logistics. Its National Publicity Secretary, Rufus Aiyenigba, said: “On a general note, there was a remarkable improvement in logistics movement. But the rampant vote-buying was a dent in the integrity of the election”.
Aiyenigba further accused the electoral Commission of excluding the party from parts of the process. Calling for public vigilance, he added that: “Nigerian citizenry must rise up and resist the deliberate breach of the faith and trust of the people in our electoral processes and outcomes, occasioned by the unholy pact of administrators of our elections with anti-democratic agents”.
The Labour Party (LP) also raised concerns over the conduct of the Enugu-North senatorial district by-election.
National Publicity Secretary of the party, Ken Asogwa, said the exercise recorded both positive and negative outcomes, and commended the orderly conduct of the poll and the performance of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) but criticised the omission of the party’s name from the ballot paper. “However, the experience was markedly different for the Labour Party. The party’s name was omitted from the ballot paper, a serious oversight with far-reaching implications”, he said.
According to him, such an omission could affect the validity of the election.
Meanwhile, opposition protests extended beyond Ekiti and Enugu, as some candidates rejected the outcomes of elections in Nasarawa and Rivers states.
In Nasarawa-North senatorial district, Labour Party candidate and former Information Minister, Labaran Maku, rejected the result that declared the APC candidate, Danladi Envulu-Anza, winner of the contest. He described the election as a “sham”, and alleged widespread irregularities, including BVAS failures, ballot manipulation and interference by government officials, while demanding a fresh election.
Similarly, candidates of the Labour Party and Action Alliance in the Rivers South-East senatorial district by-election rejected the victory of PDP candidate, Olaka Nwogu, alleging logistical failures, vote-buying and manipulation of results.
The candidates also threatened legal action as controversy continues to trail the conduct of the polls.
