The Inspector General of Police, Alkali Baba Usman, has disclosed, there are plans on ground to apprehend politicians “moving around on election days to buy votes with the use of money” and deal with them “according to the provisions of the law”.
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| Nigeria’s Inspector General of Police, Alkali Baba Usman |
IGP Baba Usman also disclosed, the Police will make this happen “in synergy with sister security agencies, anti-graft, and intelligence agencies, and other stakeholders”.
He went on to say that, “police X-Squad, intelligence officers, and investigators” will be deployed on elections days to ensure that the “menace” of using money to buy votes is reduced to the “barest minimum”.
The IGP made theses statements in Abuja at a one-day Stakeholders Summit focused on Addressing the Influence of Money on the 2023 General Election.
He said: “Concerted efforts are being made by the Nigeria police as the lead agency in electoral security management to ensure that the use of money is not allowed to influence the 2023 general elections.
“We will ensure that at least, this menace is brought to the barest minimum.
“We will achieve this in synergy with sister security agencies, anti-graft, and intelligence agencies, and other stakeholders.”
Baba, represented by Assistant Inspector General of Police, Operations, Bala Ciroma, revealed, several arrests have already been made of persons buying voter registration cards to get the 2023 elections rigged.
He further revealed that some political thugs have been apprehended and are undergoing prosecution in court.
He said: “We will also ensure that the police X-Squad, intelligence officers, and investigators are moved to the field to ensure that politicians moving on election days to buy votes are apprehended and dealt with according to the provisions of the law.
“Let me state again emphatically that the use of money during the 2023 elections is unacceptable and we will do all we can within the confines of the law to bring the offenders to book.
“Some politicians spend huge sums of money to get elected to office, thus their priority having been elected is to recoup the money they spent during the election.
“The consequence of this is that those elected provide poor governance and deny the public the benefit of good governance, as they most likely are not the best candidates.
“When elections are influenced by money, the credibility of the process is questioned. This leads to rancor and the possibility of violence after the elections.
“Some politicians often use the money to sponsor restive youths who are readily available and willing to be mobilized as political thugs and to wreak mayhem on opponents and voters.
“We have seen this in the current political campaigns and this violence could spread to post-election if the use of money is not checked.
“We cannot rule out attempts to entice the political umpires and security agents with money to influence the outcome of elections.”
