Former Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi, has issued a strong warning against the growing culture of vote buying in Nigeria, insisting that any genuine effort to reform the electoral system must begin at the party primaries.
Obi spoke in reaction to the recent decision of the House of Representatives, which dashed public hopes by refusing to criminalise vote buying at the foundational stage of political party primaries. According to him, such a move amounts to protecting a deeply flawed system rather than safeguarding Nigeria’s democratic future.
He stressed that credible elections cannot emerge from corrupt foundations, arguing that a democracy built on inducement and bribery is nothing more than a criminal marketplace. Obi warned that national development remains impossible so long as vote buying is tolerated or indirectly legitimised within the democratic process.
The former Anambra State governor noted that efforts to curb vote buying will fail if they only focus on general elections while ignoring the primaries, where candidates are first produced. He maintained that without tackling the problem at its roots, any later intervention would lack the strength to endure.
Obi further expressed concern that the culture of vote buying has now spread beyond mainstream politics into town unions, village associations, clubs, and even student elections, with young people increasingly emulating the fraudulent practices of politicians.
“How long will we allow our society to be corrupted when the solution lies in confronting the problem at its roots?” he asked.
Reaffirming his long-standing message of reform, Obi declared that a New Nigeria is possible, but only if citizens and institutions boldly confront vote buying and insist that integrity begins from the very start of the electoral process
