Nigeria’s secret police arrest journalist for exposing vote buying during Ekiti poll
Nigeria’s secret police, otherwise known as the Department of State Services (DSS), have arrested a campus journalist who posted a video of voters haggling over money at a polling unit in Irepodun Local Government during the Saturday Ekiti governorship election.
The area where the incident took place is former Governor Ayodele Fayose’s polling unit.Â
The arrested journalist, identified as Jeremiah Omoniyi, was deployed to the polling station by the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID).
The DSS operatives were said to have swooped on the polling unit shortly after the video, originally published by Premium Times, surfaced online.Â
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Omoniyi reportedly denied he posted the video, but the DSS operatives still took him away.Â
There have been claims of vote buying during the election. Unverified reports alleged leading political parties offered money ranging from N10, 000 to N3, 000 to voters in exchange for their votes.Â
The claim by Kemi Elebute-Halle, the governorship candidate of the Action Democratic Party (ADP) in Ekiti, that political parties were bribing voters with money gives the clearest confirmation of the development.Â
