Udengs Eradiri, the Labour Party (LP) governorship candidate in Bayelsa, says the governorship election held on Saturday in the state was marred by massive vote-buying.
“The level of vote-buying is overwhelming,” Eradiri said while commenting on the general conduct of the election.
Eradiri who spoke at Agudama-Ekpetiama, Yenagoa Local Government Area, claimed that he was even approached to step down, but declined.
He said he was particularly disappointed about the open cases of vote-buying, because his campaign was partly devoted to educating the people not to sell their votes.
“I had thought my messages against money politics would have been tracking with the people, but I was wrong. I am deeply disappointed, I was wrong.
“My greatest disapointment was with a woman from this community whom I offered scholarship to her son, but today sold her vote for N14,000,” he added.
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The LP governorship candidate regretted that the electorates seemed to have opted for money instead of voting for the right candidate.
“We have a long way to go in stopping money politics in this country.
“I thought I had found a solution but I was wrong. I did not come into this race to buy votes,” Eradiri added.
According to him, votes were freely traded for between N12,000 and N40,000 per vote.
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