The Inspector-General of Police, Usman Baba has vowed to arrest and prosecute politicians moving on election days with bags of cash for vote buying.
The IGP stated this on Monday in Abuja at a one-day Stakeholders Summit on Addressing the Influence of Money on the 2023 General Election.
“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”, he said.
Baba, represented by Assistant Inspector General of Police, Operations, Bala Ciroma said already, a lot of arrest have been made of persons buying voter registration cards to rig the 2023 elections.
He added that some political thugs have also been arrested and are being prosecuted in courts.
“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,” he added.
The I-G said the Force had embedded intelligence officers during political rallies to identify with precision, persons encouraging and perpetrating violence.
“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, credibility of the process is questioned. This leads to rancour and the possibility of violence after the elections.”
Baba said the police was also ready to deal with sponsors of violence before, during and after the elections.
