Aisha Yesufu says decriminalise vote buying in Nigeria

Aisha Yesufu has said something that will make many people angry but she might have a point. Yesterday she posted on X that vote buying should be decriminalised in Nigeria because the EFCC is blindfolded during elections anyway. She said law abiding Nigerians are the ones suffering because they don't buy votes and then get schemed out while others buy their way into office.

She wrote that instead of candidates wasting money on campaigns, let everyone just wait for election day and bargain. The highest bidder wins and you save your money. This is happening right now in Ekiti where the ADC candidate Dare Bejide alleged vote buying and money sharing at his polling unit. Police and INEC officials just refused to respond.

Now I have thought about this for some time and I understand her frustration. But decriminalising vote buying means we have given up completely on having free and fair elections. Is that where we are now as a country? That we just accept that our votes will always be for sale and there is nothing we can do about it?