The Deputy Minority Leader of the Nigerian Senate, Lere Oyewumi, has admitted to partaking in vote buying during the 2023 general elections.
Naija News reports that the lawmaker representing Osun West Senatorial District at the Red Chamber made the confession in a viral video online while receiving defectors to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Irewole local government.
Oyewumi said he gave out money to influence people to vote for him at a particular polling unit in Ikire, but Tunde Ayandosu, one of the loyalists of the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Adegboyega Oyetola, and his people didn’t allow him to win.
The PDP chieftain noted that he wooed Ayandosu to join the ruling party in Osun State due to his capacity as an opposition member.
Ayandosu, the All Progressives Congress Chairman in Ward 4, Irewole Local Government, decamped to the PDP alongside his people in Ikire.
Oyewumi, “I tried all the tricks I knew to win at Onilu’s house (Ile Onilu) polling unit, but Ayandosu and his people didn’t allow me.
“After exhausting money for the election, I gave my personal money to Ten-Ten to give to people at night to influence them but on the eve of the election, Ten-Ten came back with my money, saying the people rejected it. I was surprised
“That was why I reached out to Ayandosu because I cannot be a Senator and continue to fail there.
“I was the one who called Ayandosu from Abuja to join me in the PDP. I told him he has talent and that the party he was serving then (APC) would not allow him to grow.”