Ekiti voters admit to cash-for-vote deals in Oyebanji’s hometown — N10,000 from APC, N2,000 from ADC agents

SaharaReporters found voters in Aramoko Ekiti openly admitting to receiving cash payments — including N10,000 from APC agents and N2,000 from ADC agents — in exchange for their votes during the Ekiti governorship election, despite a heavy presence of security and anti-corruption officials.

Cash was changing hands in plain sight at several polling units in Aramoko Ekiti on Saturday — and voters weren’t shy about admitting it. According to SaharaReporters, the outlet visited at least five polling units in the community — hometown of the mother of APC governorship candidate and incumbent Governor Biodun Oyebanji — and found voters openly confirming they’d been paid to back political parties.

At least five voters told SaharaReporters separately that they received N10,000 each to vote for the APC, describing the payments as widespread across multiple polling centres. At Polling Unit 004, Chief Ologbodo’s House, Oke Uro, reporters witnessed what looked like an organised vote-buying operation, with agents from both the APC and the ADC approaching them — mistaking them for voters. The APC agent reportedly offered N10,000 for support, while the ADC representative offered N2,000. SaharaReporters obtained video and audio recordings of voters discussing the payments and the parties behind them.

The revelations come just hours after about 10 EFCC operatives arrived at Governor Oyebanji’s own polling unit in Ikogosi at around 9:05 a.m., monitoring activities amid growing vote-buying allegations statewide — though no arrests were immediately reported there.

Despite repeated warnings from INEC, civil society groups and anti-corruption agencies, the practice appears to be thriving in parts of Ekiti, with the governorship contest pitting Oyebanji against several opposition candidates across the state’s 16 local government areas.