Myson Nejo, the governorship candidate for the African Democratic Congress (ADC) in Ondo State, has spoken out about the issue of vote buying that marred the state’s recent gubernatorial election.

Despite coming in third place with 4,138 votes, Nejo has maintained that his loss was due to his decision to reject the corrupt practice of vote trading.

In a statement made on Sunday, Nejo expressed disappointment over the widespread vote-buying during the election.

He pointed out that candidates who could afford to buy votes from voters were the ones who emerged victorious.

Nejo, however, chose not to engage in such practices, even when faced with pressure to do so.

“I lost the election because I refused to buy votes,” Nejo said.

“But I’m proud of my decision. I didn’t give out any money, and despite that, I still received votes from the people who believed in my vision for Ondo State.

To me, those votes are legitimate and meaningful because they weren’t influenced by money or unethical tactics.”

Nejo revealed the shocking extent of the vote-buying, noting that voters were being offered as much as N20,000 in exchange for their ballots in some areas.

In his polling unit, the going rate was between N10,000 and N15,000.

Nejo explained that, because he refused to take part in these practices, he received very few votes in his unit—just two votes—while his overall tally was a modest 40 votes.

Despite this, he expressed satisfaction with the integrity of his campaign.

“People were asking me for money in exchange for their votes, but I stuck to my principles.

I told them if they wanted to vote, they could do so freely, without expecting anything from me.

I wasn’t going to give a kobo to influence the outcome of the election,” Nejo said.