Oluwanifemi Ojo
The Economic and Financial Crime Commission has arrested 19 people over alleged vote buying in Kano, Benue, Kano, Benue and Abuja.
According to the News Agency of Nigeria, the EFCC Kano Zonal Commander, Farul Dogondaji, said 16 of the suspected vote buyers were arrested in Kano and one was arrested in Katsina.
Six suspects were captured in the Tofa and Ungogo local government regions, according to Dogondaji, carrying sacks of rice and semovita.
He said, “We also arrested 10 suspects at Kofar Danagundi and Kwalli Primary School in the Municipal Local Government Area.”
One of the suspects was caught with 60 wrappers in the Bakori Local Government Area of Katsina State.
The Zonal Commander added that all the arrested suspects were caught while attempting to share the food items to influence voters during the presidential and National Assembly elections.
In Benue, EFCC arrested the Director General of the Peoples Democratic Party Campaign Council, Dr Cletus Tyokyar.
The director general was reportedly arrested on Saturday with the sum of N306,700 in various denominations stashed in his car at the RCM polling unit in Daudu, in the Guma Local Government Area of the state.
In a statement on its Facebook page, EFCC said the PDP rep was caught when “he drove to the voting centre which was different from his polling unit and tried to run upon sighting operatives of the Commission.”
The Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom, however blamed the agency and called the parties to destabilisation.
He said, “This is a shame. The EFCC this morning in Guma here arrested our DG campaign because they found just N100,000 on him.
“EFCC is becoming an agent of destabilisation. Why should they pick somebody because of N100,000? Personally, I have more than that.”
In a similar vein, the commission reported that it had detained another person at the Gidan Zakka polling unit in the Goron Dutse neighborhood of the Kano Municipal Local Government area of Kano State for allegedly buying votes with N194,000.
“A party agent buying votes through bank transfers was also arrested in Abaji in the Federal Capital Territory, while two persons, Stanley Nsemo and Eno Amponsah, were arrested in Calabar, Cross River State, with the sum of $450 and N156,800 on suspicion of alleged votes buying,” EFCC also stated.
The commission also arrested a woman, Maryam Mamman Alhaji, who had 18 voter cards in the Badarwa area of Kaduna, Kaduna State.
EFCC said,“She was nabbed after undercover operatives pretended they had voter cards and were desperate to sell them.
“She is currently being grilled by operatives of the Kaduna Zonal Command of the EFCC, with a view to unravelling other members of her syndicate whom she claimed are also collecting voter cards and paying monies through PoS or direct bank transfers.”