Bawa: Some politicians planning to buy votes by sharing items instead of cash

Abdulrasheed Bawa, the chairperson of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), says some politicians are planning to buy votes by distributing items instead of cash.

Speaking on Wednesday in an interview on Channels Television, Bawa said the anti-graft agency is ready to arrest those caught buying votes during Saturday’s polls.

Ahead of the general election, stakeholders have raised concerns that vote buying could mar the integrity of the election.

However, when the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) introduced the naira redesign policy, it was viewed as a way to tackle vote buying.

In a recent address, President Muhammadu Buhari said the naira redesign policy has minimised the influence of money on Nigeria’s politics.

Speaking on Wednesday, the EFCC chair asked Nigerians to cooperate with the agency in addressing vote-buying.

“Of course, 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. All of these things are out there. We will watch out for [them],” he said.

“Politicians are also Nigerians. They are professionals and some of them turned into politicians. We (EFCC) have our own ways of doing our things.”

On the naira note scarcity, Bawa said some of the new naira notes were 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.