Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Abdulrasheed Bawa, has said some politicians are planning to buy votes by distributing items instead of cash.
Bawa disclosed this on Wednesday during an interview on Channels Television’s The 2023 Verdict, amid the scarcity of the new naira notes experienced by Nigerians nationwide.
“We have intel that a lot of people have bought some items that they want [to use] to buy votes in kind not in cash. Some of these things are out there.
“Politicians are also Nigerians. We too have a way of doing our own things. We have our own experiences in this as well,” Bawa said.
He further urged Nigerians to cooperate with the anti-graft agency in its efforts to combat vote-buying in Saturday’s Presidential and National Assembly polls.
While urging the citizens to vote for people with integrity and ethical standard into elective positions, he noted that vote-buying is a serious issue that affects the future of Nigeria and its citizens.
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Responding to the challenges the Commission is faced with regarding vote-buying, he said, “I think the hurdle is if Nigerians are not buying into what we are doing. I think that is the biggest hurdle.
“Once we are united on that front because the office of the citizen of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is the most powerful office in this country.
“We can all come together to ensure that the people we are voting into various elective positions are people with proven integrity and of higher ethical standard. The only way you can determine that those have genuinely sold themselves in what they will do is when they get into office.”
Speaking on the naira scarcity crisis, Bawa hinted some of the new naira notes were being hoarded.
“Some of these monies that have been printed will all come out this Saturday after the election because some of them are hoarded and it will be distributed around,” he said.
