2027: INEC Vows Crackdown on Vote Buying, Campaign Spending

** .Wike Berates INEC over Amaechi’s campaign incitement**

.Issues no work, no pay warning to labour

Olawale Ajimotokan in Abuja and David-Chyddy Eleke in Awka

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has said it would pay attention to spending by candidates in the 2027 general elections, insisting that those who engage in vote buying would be prosecuted.

This was as the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has faulted INEC for failing to sanction or call to order the Vice Presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Rotimi Amaechi, for inciting the public on matters that were not issue -base in his campaign.

Wike delivered the disapproval yesterday in Abuja after a brief meeting with FCT Area Council chairmen.

The INEC Resident Electoral Commission (REC) in charge of Anambra State, Dr. Queen Elizabeth Agwu, stated this yesterday during a stakeholders’ meeting attended by leaders and representatives of political parties, candidates, community leaders and media representatives.

She said, “We don’t want a repeat of what happened during the 2025 governorship election in Anambra State where people were talking about families and other matters away from the election. INEC will not accept it.

“We will not tolerate campaign of calumny. Campaigns have been lifted and we expect candidates to go into the field and tell the people what they can do. It is immaterial if a candidate is impotent or if a candidate’s wife’s last child is not the candidate’s, it is immaterial. Just tell the people what you will do for them.”

Speaking on vote buying, the REC said, “We will monitor vote buying and we are urging people to report vote buyers. I have never witnessed one, but we call on those who notice it to report to us.

“The money you will use to buy votes, why not give it to the people during election campaigns and tell them what you will do for them. This is the time to campaign. It is not INEC that engages in vote buying, and it is not done by the police or other organisations, but by political parties. All parties are engaged in vote buying and at the end you blame INEC and want us to stop it when you are the ones doing it.”

She also insisted that the commission is very prepared for the 2027 elections, adding that those planning to use thugs to carry ballot boxes during the election will be disappointed because such stolen boxes would be useless to those who took them.

“We beg you not to engage thugs, if you don’t get to power today you will get tomorrow. Election is about planning. You must plan, you must engage the people, you don’t just jump out hoping to win because you have paid young boys to disrupt the process for you. We want to assure you that plans are in place and very soon, election malpractice would be a thing if the past

“INEC is ready for the coming elections and we have made adequate preparation and I want to assure you there will be no glitches in the 2027 elections. I told you people so during the Anambra governorship election and it came to pass, so I’m promising you again that there would be no glitches in the coming election.

“It’s 97 days to elections and we are ready. We want the political parties and their candidates to prepare early enough too.

“We have warned our staff not to take money from politician and if we catch politicians who are luring our staff for result sheets or to rig elections, we will prosecute you. Some people get scammed by people who are not even our staff because of desperation, but they come and say it is our staff. We will not let that happen in 2027.

“Snatching ballot boxes is now obsolete and if you do it, we have enough technology to make it useless to you,” the REC said.

Meanwhile, FCT Minister, Wike, said INEC inadvertently turned a deaf ear after Amaechi reportedly told voters in Edo State that “only thieves and mad people” would vote for President Bola Tinubu.

He said, “Many Nigerians have called INEC to sanction political parties, candidates, or some politicians who, in their campaigns, incite the public or raise matters that are not issue-based.

“We have been told to go on campaign based on issues: what are you going to do for the people? Not on attacking personality, not on insulting individuals.

“And up till now, I have not heard that INEC has been able to call or draw attention of the vice presidential candidate of the ADC, one Chibuike Amaechi, who has shown he’s more of a… All of us watched on television yesterday, and the media, where he said it’s only thieves that can vote for Bola Ahmed Tinubu. And this was said in Edo, that only mad people can go and vote for Ahmed Tinubu, and that if Edo people vote for him, it means Edo people are mad.

“This is supposedly a vice presidential candidate of a political party and not an ordinary politician, seeking to take over power and preside over the affairs of this country.”

Wike then proceeded to launch a blistering verbal rant at Amaechi and questioned his mental stability, saying men like him would not be allowed to attain the presidency of the country.

“He cannot preside over the affairs of this country! He said those who want to vote for Tinubu are thieves. So, I’m a thief? That’s what he’s saying,” Wike said.

He vowed that Amaechi would face severe resistance in his home turf if he continued to insult supporters of the President.

“You can’t continue with that kind of way and think that we will allow you. We will not allow it! I will not!

“I’m not the Governor of Rivers State, but I do know that our supporters will not allow him in Rivers State to do that, and it will be difficult—we’ll make it difficult for him not to campaign in Rivers. He cannot do that.”

Wike also decried the indefinite strike declared by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) as action that was politically motivated insisting the FCT Administration had no dispute with teachers.

He urged area councils to call their teachers and civil servants back to work, warning that “no work, no pay” would be implemented.

“This so-called strike declaration is political and we will not accept it. There’s no basis for anybody to call for a strike. All the things they are talking about have been agreed and are being implemented,” he said.

He said the Trade Union Congress (TUC) and the Academic Staff Union of Secondary School (ASUSS), the body of senior primary school teachers, had disowned the strike.