Officials of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) arrived in Anambra State on Saturday as residents trooped out to vote for their next governor.
According to our correspondent, Geoff Uzono, EFCC officials were sighted at Community Primary School, Amawbia, in Awka South Local Government Area, monitoring proceedings to curb vote buying.
However, in a separate incident captured by our correspondent, Charles Opurum, a woman at Central School, Utuh, was seen being escorted by a party agent into the voting cubicle — a clear violation of electoral rules.
The agent was heard asking, “Ego ole?” which translates to “how much?” before election officials confronted him for trespassing. The agent, in his defence, claimed, “She is the one who asked me to accompany her to show her, and I have every right to follow her.”
Voters at the scene expressed anger over the agent’s actions, while other party representatives also intervened, creating a brief commotion that temporarily disrupted the voting process.
An Election Observer, Dimma Nwobi of the Situation Room, lamented ongoing vote buying across polling centres.
“We came from Nnewi North, and nothing was happening there even by 8:15 AM. INEC and police officials were still waiting for transportation to polling units,” she said.
“This place is unique because we saw that party machineries were collecting people’s cards, INEC gives them forms to vote, and the forms are handed back to party agents who drop them in the ballot box. They are actually buying votes and negotiating. It is sad.”
INEC records show that 2,802,790 registered voters are expected to cast their ballots across 5,718 polling units in Anambra’s 21 local government areas.
The election covers three senatorial districts, with sixteen candidates vying for the top seat, including Governor Chukwuma Soludo of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Nicholas Ukachukwu of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Paul Chukwuma of the Young Progressives Party (YPP), George Moghalu of the Labour Party (LP), and Jude Ezenwafor of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).