Mr.

James told the BBC Hausa Service on Saturday that from March 2022 till date, money and other items were given to people on political occasions.

According to him, it has now changed as they now go from house to house, giving people money.

James said, “What this has shown is that politicians don’t like wasting time campaigning. What they now do is to buy people’s votes.”

The election observer said it was not only one political party that does that, adding that it’s so disheartening that they “buy people’s votes for as low as N500.”

However, an INEC official, Hajiya Zainab Aminu, told the BBC Hausa that they have taken steps to deal with the problem.

Aminu said it is not permissible for people to use phones or snap pictures when they come to cast their votes at the polling stations.

According to her, people used to snap what they voted for and show it afterwards so as to collect money.