Osun residents allegedly receive N10,000, swear religious oath to vote for Adeleke (Video)
Fresh concerns have emerged ahead of the August 15 Osun State governorship election after a viral video allegedly showed residents receiving ₦10,000 each and taking a religious oath to vote for Governor Ademola Adeleke.
The video, which has been widely circulated on social media, allegedly shows mostly women collecting cash before being led through an oath by individuals said to be loyalists of the governor.
In the clip, the residents were heard repeating an oath after a coordinator, promising to vote for Adeleke while invoking blessings upon themselves if they fulfilled the pledge and curses if they failed to do so.
"I will vote for Demola Adeleke. I promise to be a faithful and honest person and I promise to do what you want and if I refuse to do it, all the troubles and calamities in the Bible should be mine. But if I collect money and vote for him, all the goodness in the Bible should be mine," they recited.
The authenticity of the video and the claims surrounding it have not been independently verified.
The allegation comes just days before voters head to the polls in what has been described as one of Nigeria's most closely watched off-cycle governorship elections. Governor Adeleke is seeking a second term amid an intense contest with opposition parties.
The development also follows days of heightened political tension in the state, particularly over the freezing of Osun State Government accounts by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
On Thursday, President Bola Tinubu directed the EFCC to take immediate steps to unfreeze the state's accounts, saying the timing of the action could create the impression that federal institutions were interfering in the electoral process.
According to the President's Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, Tinubu personally conveyed the decision to Governor Adeleke during a telephone conversation.
Earlier, the President said although the EFCC acted under a valid court order and within its statutory powers, he was "deeply embarrassed" by the timing of the move.
"Nothing ought to be done to give an impression that the EFCC or indeed any other agency of the federal government is being used to interfere with the election," Tinubu said.
He subsequently directed the anti-graft agency to approach the court to vacate the order freezing the state's accounts and discontinue all related actions.
The EFCC had defended its decision, saying it froze the accounts as part of an investigation into the alleged diversion of about ₦11 billion in Ecology Funds, Intervention Funds and Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) allocations.
The commission maintained that the action was based on ongoing investigations into suspected financial misconduct and was not politically motivated despite its proximity to the governorship election.
Meanwhile, the emergence of the alleged vote-buying video has renewed concerns about the credibility of the upcoming election
Vote buying has remained a recurring issue in Nigerian elections despite repeated assurances by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), security agencies and anti-corruption agencies that offenders would be identified and prosecuted.
Civil society organisations have repeatedly warned that vote buying and voter intimidation undermine the integrity of elections and weaken public confidence in the country's democratic process.
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