The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has pledged to combat vote buying in the 2023 general election in Nigeria.
The agency, which is tasked with fighting corruption, emphasized the importance of transparent, free, and fair elections and said it is working with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and security agencies to eliminate and prevent vote buying.
The EFCC chairman, Abdulrasheed Bawa, also criticized both the politicians who offer money and the voters who sell their votes, calling it a “tragedy” that threatens the integrity of the electoral process.
“Some politicians, who distributed huge sums of money to influence the outcome of the 2015 presidential poll, are still being prosecuted by the commission, while hundreds of millions of naira were recovered,” he said.
“The commission in 2019 deployed operatives in polling stations across the country in a deliberate move to check the inducement of voters by desperate politicians and candidates. Arrests were made and many have been prosecuted and convictions recorded.
“Similar measures were taken during the Ekiti and Osun state elections recently and the recently concluded primary elections of the political parties as well; the commission’s operatives were deployed to convention grounds to prevent election inducement of party delegates.
“These actually go a long way to demonstrate the commission’s commitment to reducing, if not eliminating the use of money to manipulate the electoral process.
“As the 2023 general elections approach, the EFCC assures all Nigerians that it will do all within its powers, working with relevant stakeholders, particularly INEC and law enforcement agencies, to discourage vote-buying or voter inducement.”
