Officials of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) arrived in Anambra State on Saturday as residents trooped out to elect their next governor.
EFCC personnel were sighted at the Community Primary School, Amawbia, in Awka South Local Government Area, monitoring proceedings and ensuring compliance with electoral laws, particularly against vote buying.
However, one of our correspondents, Charles Opurum, captured a video at Central School Utuh showing a woman being escorted by a party agent to the voting cubicle — a violation of election regulations.
In the footage, the party agent was heard asking, “Ego ole?” (meaning “How much?”), before being confronted by election officials who accused him of trespassing. The agent defended his actions, claiming the voter had requested his assistance. The altercation led to a brief disruption of voting as residents and other party agents expressed outrage over the incident.
An election observer, Dimma Nwobi of the Situation Room, also raised concerns about widespread vote buying in parts of the state.
“We came from Nnewi North where there are five wards and 13 polling units, but voting was delayed because INEC and police officials were still waiting for transportation,” Nwobi said.
“Here, we observed party operatives collecting voter cards, filling forms on behalf of voters, and even dropping completed forms into ballot boxes. They are openly negotiating and buying votes. It’s a sad situation.”
According to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), 2,802,790 registered voters are expected to cast their ballots across 5,718 polling units in 21 local government areas.
The election is taking place across three senatorial districts, with sixteen candidates in the race. Prominent contenders include incumbent Governor Chukwuma Soludo of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Nicholas Ukachukwu of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Paul Chukwuma of the Young Progressives Party (YPP), George Moghalu of the Labour Party (LP), and Jude Ezenwafor of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
