The candidate of the African Democratic Congress, Barrister Myson Nejo on Sunday condemned the conduct of the just concluded governorship election in Ondo State saying that the election was characterised with vote buying and selling.
Nejo said he lost the governorship poll following his refusal to buy votes and those that were able to buy the votes won the election.
Nejo who stated this, in a telephone interview, said despite losing the election, he was satisfied with himself.
He said, ” The reaction of the people? I thank the good people of Ondo Street for voting for me without giving them any money, and they still voted for me. I want to believe that my vote is a valid vote because there was nothing like vote-buying or any unethical practices on my side . So far, I want to believe I’m a winner in this election.”
On the issue of vote buying during the election, Nejo specifically confirmed that the votes were being bought for as much as N20,000, describing the development as worrisome.
“People were buying votes for N20,000 or N15,000 Naira, and in my polling unit, it was N10,000 to N15,000.
“Because I didn’t have money and I told them I wasn’t going to give even a kobo to buy votes, I ended up with only two votes in my unit and about 40 votes in total. But I don’t care. People were calling me, asking for money in exchange for their votes, but I stood my ground. If they want to vote, they should vote. I wasn’t going to give a kobo to buy votes.”
