By Mohammed Mohammed
Against the background of Saturday’s gubernatorial election in Edo State, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)
has sought the assistance of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, (EFCC) in tracking electoral funding malpractices and vote-buying
This appeal was made on Tuesday, on Tuesday by the Jigawa State Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Dr Mahmuda Isah, when the Kano zonal head of the EFCC, Sanusi Aliyu Mohammed paid him a courtesy visit.
“We seek your expertise to track down fraudulent campaign funding and vote buyers because INEC doesn’t have the power or the necessary expertise to arrest perpetrators of vote-buying,” he said.
In his response, Mohammed assured Isah of EFCC’s readiness to assist INEC in ensuring that, the crime of vote-buying, during elections, is reduced to the barest minimum, noting that “vote-buying is the main purpose of incorporating EFCC in the election monitoring exercise. We are not going to promise you absolute eradication of vote-buying, but we assure you that we will do our best to ensure that it is reduced to the minimum.”
On the issue of fraudulent campaign funding, Mohammed urged the national electoral body to always report suspicious financial activities of politicians to the Commission, as EFCC operates based on credible information, assuring his host that the EFCC will always be available at election locations, few days ahead of election day, given that some vote buying does happen even before the election takes place