Akure, Ondo state – On Saturday, November 16, 2024, Ondo state in the southwest geopolitical zone will hold a governorship election......See Full Story>>.....See Full Story>>
PerPremium Times, an APC insider claimed the party is “lucky” in this election cycle, given the ‘weaknesses’ of the main opposition party, the PDP.
The Ondo state PDP under its current leadership is finding it hard to dominate the APC. Thus, as things stand, it has fallen dramatically to a level where it now plays catch-up to the ruling APC.
Voters in Nigeria’s elections often sell their ballot, a development observers believe is a bad omen.
“Going, going, gone!” is a phrase commonly used to herald the determination of the highest bidder of an item being sold on auction. This process of presenting items for bid, taking bids, and then selling them to the highest bidder aptly encapsulates a questionable practice that has permeated Nigeria’s recent electoral experience: vote buying.
Since Nigeria returned to democracy in May 1999, vote buying has steadily grown in scale and brazenness. Several videos and images have emerged, showing the unabashed sharing of cash, food and valuable items among the electorate by politicians and parties during recent elections in Kogi, Bayelsa, and Edo states. Stalwarts of the two main political parties, the APC and PDP, are most guilty.
With the APC being the party in power at the centre, the party could attempt to use federal might. They also have enough money to achieve their electoral targets.
Efforts by PDP’s Ajayi to spend money are projected to be neutralised by the deep vaults of the APC, the party that controls public funds at the centre and in the state.
The PDP had been facing lots of problems before and during the reign of the acting national chairman, Umar Damagum.
Considering the issue of whether Damagum must stay or go has not been resolved, it is going to be a problem at the polls in Ondo because the PDP is still clearly not united.
The deals to join the two bigger parties were struck recently, with announcements for support for either the APC or PDP candidates to be made before Friday, November 15.