The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC said it's Lagos State Tactical team have intercepted the sum of 32.4 million new Naira notes suspected to be used for vote buying in Lagos State.
This came few hours to the commencement of the Presidential and National Assembly polls of 2023.
The Chairman of the commission Abdulrasheed Bawa while commending the team stated that the arrest is an indication that the massive operation by the EFCC to deter vote trading and other financial malfeasance ahead of today's presidential and national assembly elections is yielding dividends.
He charged officials of the anti-graft agency deployed for election monitoring duties to continue to show courage to this mandate and give no room for unscrupulous persons to undermine the integrity of the elections through financial inducement.
In a statement made available on its Twitter handle on the eve of election, the anti-graft agency stated that the officials also arrested a suspect who has been taken into custody for questioning.
“The massive operation by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, to deter vote trading and other financial malfeasance ahead of tomorrow’s presidential and national assembly elections may have begun paying dividends with the interception in Lagos of the sum of N32,400,000 allegedly suspected to be used for vote buying in Lagos,” the statement read.
“The recovery was made by operatives of the Lagos Zonal Command of the Commission. The suspect involved has been taken into custody for further questioning.”
“Tactical teams of operatives are currently on the ground in all the states of the federation and the FCT. Telephone hotlines have already been circulated through social media for members of the public to share information regarding financial malpractices with agents of the Commission.
“Members of the public are encouraged to report anyone trying to buy or sell votes by making use of the EFCC financial crimes reporting App, Eagle Eye, which is available for download on the Google Play or Apple store,” the statement added.
The recovery of the huge amount of the new naira note in Lagos state is amid weeks of the nation wide protests following the hardship being experience due to scacity of Naira in the country.
