Political Elite Don’t Believe In Free, Fair Elections, They Just Want To Buy Votes – Okoye
Okoye lamented that political parties lacked clear ideologies and were not campaigning on issues, accusing them of seeking ways to ensure that votes did not count on election day. The post Political Elite Don’t Believe…
Festus Okoye served as a National Commissioner at the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and was a key figure in the body's efforts to reform Nigeria's electoral process, including the rollout of technology such as the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) aimed at curbing rigging and vote manipulation. His remarks add to a long-running debate about the quality of Nigeria's democracy, where elections since 1999 have repeatedly been marred by allegations of vote-buying, violence, and manipulation of results despite reforms to INEC's legal and technical framework.
The coverage is consistent in reporting Okoye's central charge: that the political class is more interested in subverting the ballot through inducement and manipulation than in competing on policy or ideology. Both reports highlight his claim that parties campaign without distinct platforms, but neither provides details on when or where the remarks were made, nor do they report any response from political parties or INEC on the allegations.