Vote-Buying: A Cancer at the Roots of Nigerian Politics

Peter Obi, the 2023 Labor Party presidential candidate, said something blunt and I think worth repeating: vote‑buying is a cancer. He wasn’t being dramatic just to score points. He was naming a rot that creeps through institutions, through choices, through how people value one another – and then he urged that it be cut out at the roots. That image is useful: treatment at the leaves and branches won’t save the tree if the roots stay poisoned.

Why the focus on primaries?

obi’s core claim – and it’s hard to argue with the logic – is that stopping vote‑buying has to start were the contest begins. If party primaries are the place where candidates are selected,then that’s where inducements and bribery first get legitimised. Let parties allow buying and selling of votes inside their own selection processes, and the rest follows. You’ll have candidates who win not because they connect with voters or have better ideas, but because they mastered payment logistics.

I admit, I’m a little impatient with how slow political systems move. You can pass rhetoric about “free and fair elections” all you like; if you don’t build guardrails where they matter most, the rest is performative. Obi pushed this point: criminalise vote‑buying at the foundational stage – at primaries – and you stand a chance of changing behavior later.Ignore the primaries and you’re fighting downstream floods with a teaspoon.

Also read: Staying Together or Falling Apart: APC Leaders in Obokun Push for Unity Ahead of Osun Vote

The damage spreads

Obi framed vote‑buying as a threat to democracy and to national growth. Again, that’s more than a slogan. When votes are bought, the mandate that leaders claim is hollow. Policies follow political expediency instead of public need. Officials who rely on cash to get office will often prioritise private payback – networks, contracts, favors – over public service. Corruption isn’t a one‑off act; it’s a system that self-perpetuates.

What’s striking is how this culture doesn’t stay confined to high politics. Obi notes, and I’ve seen this too, that vote‑buying has trickled into town unions, village leadership races, clubs, associations, even student elections. That’s a demonstration effect: if local leaders run their contest