Ahead of today governorship election in Osun, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) say vote buyers and their customers risk being arrested and prosecuted.
Rotimi Oyekanmi, the Chief Press Secretary to INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, said this in a statement in Abuja on Friday.
According to the statement, the decision was the outcome of a meeting between the two commissions at the EFCC headquarters in Abuja on Thursday.
The statement said that the INEC Chairman had led a team of National Commissioners to the meeting.
The statement reads: “As part of the commission’s proactive efforts in securing the integrity of the electoral process and preventing the exercise from being used as avenue for money laundering, the EFCC has already launched massive, but discreet, surveillance of the financial flows of all the actors in the various political parties.
“The tracking process, which is ongoing, will continue till all the scheduled elections are concluded.”
He quoted Ibrahim Magu, acting chairman of the commission, as saying the move is part of a collaborative initiative that will see the EFCC join forces with other law enforcement agencies to enforce compliance of provisions of the electoral act which criminalises financial inducement by political parties and their candidates.
“We will be working with all stakeholders especially from the security and intelligence community to stop the practice of vote buying and other financial malpractices that undermine the integrity of our elections,” Magu was quoted as saying.
“It is important to state here that those who offer bribes for votes are as guilty as those who receive such gratifications. My candid advice to the electorates is to be vigilant and resist the temptation to sell their votes.
“After the widely acclaimed peaceful transfer of power from a sitting president, who was the candidate of the then ruling party, to the candidate of the opposition party in 2015, the 2019 general election offers Nigeria the opportunity to deepen her emerging democratic culture that is free and participatory. We must guard this process by shunning all forms of electoral malpractices.”
Magu said the commission would not take any step that is not sanctioned by law, adding, however, that “no one who collects money to rig election will be spared.”
He said the commission had mobilised its investigative resources to monitor campaign financing by political parties in Osun
According to the statement, the issue of vote buying and selling had become worrisome to the two commissions and therefore evolved measures to address the menace.
