On Saturday, March 18, 2023, as many as 65 people were arrested on suspicion of defrauding voters by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission of the 28 states that host elections for governors and state legislatures.
Twenty of the suspects were arrested by his Ilorin Zone Command agents, and 13 were arrested by Kaduna Zone Command election monitoring agents.
A team monitoring the elections in Port Harcourt Zone arrested a total of 12 people for various crimes, including using money to trick voters into voting for their preferred candidate, while the Uyo Zone Command arrested his 4 in Calabar. made a person's arrest. The remaining suspects were arrested in the states of Gombe, Sokoto, Kebi and Niger.
EFCC Head of Media and Public, Wilson Uwujaren, made this clear in a statement available to correspondents on Saturday. He added that 10 men and 3 women had been arrested in Kaduna and had been arrested by intelligence officials.
“A suspect allegedly involved in vote bribery has been arrested on School Road in Rimi Kaduna, Nungwang,” Uujaren said. remains.
“Also in Kaduna, a team led by Esmond Garba in his PU 002 Dogar Yaro Dagari area arrested Buhari Muhammed. Admitted it was used to track and pay people. “Additionally, the team overseeing the LEA Kabala Doki, Kaduna voting exercise, led by CSE Wakilu Omokide, also arrested two suspected vote-buyers. A list of details and more was found on the premises at the time of the arrest."
A spokesman for the Anti-Graft Agency said in previous investigations that the suspect's main methods were to offer voters cash, wire transfers, wire coupons, and top-up sending his cards to vote for candidates. He said that it became clear that it was to receive.
“A search of their people and mobile phones revealed that most of them had sent money to the accounts of voters on the list. Items found from the suspects included voter IDs, funds, It includes a list of voters' names, bank details, etc. Others are top-up cards," he said. Similarly, Kaduna Command officials also arrested two people in Niger on suspicion of buying votes. The first suspect, Umar Ibrahim, was arrested at a polling station on Pieter Sarkhi Street, based on information.
“A search of his car found an INEC (Internal Election Observer) ID tag with his name and photo on it, as well as a letter of appointment from the BOS (Bago Support Organization) as a liaison. When asked, he revealed that a certain Uthman Mohammed, who belongs to his political party, had given him an INEC ID tag.
“The second suspect, Isa Salihu Bababida, was arrested in Unguwar Nassarawa along with multiple listings of his name, account number and his BVN,” he added Uwjaren.
He further accused the election monitoring team of Port Harcourt, County Rivers of being involved in election sedition in Moscow Road, Erekahia, Township, Mile 2, Ward 2 Voting Units 2 and 30, Ogbam, Falga and Port Harcourt. 10 suspects have been arrested. .
He said the suspect was arrested with A4 documents containing the names, phone numbers and account numbers of people suspected of being voters. Two of his youths accused of being involved in the election campaign were also arrested at Ogbum, District 2, Election Wards 2 and 30, Port Harcourt City PHALGA.
The EFCC PRO also said that four of his people, who were arrested at various locations in Calabar by the Uyo Zonal Command team led by Binta Rano, voluntarily filed statements with the Cross River State Police Command Criminal Investigation Division. also mentioned.
He added: "The team arrested Esther Edem, leader of one of the political parties in Ward 11, Calabar South, Cross River State, and two others, Edet Etim and Asanwana Eyo, on vote-buying charges in Calabar.
“The Woman leader, who had a list of suspected voters, account numbers and thousands of Naira in cash, was arrested in an unfinished building adjacent to her station in Calabar South, while Etim and Eyo were arrested in District 11, Unit 12 of the Kings. Memorial School at Inyang Street, Abasi Obori, Calabar South. "The duo of Etim and Eyo brought their own lists and money they allegedly used to buy votes."
Uwujaren also said the 20 suspects arrested by the Ilorin Zonal Command were Adekunle Ademola, Wasiu Raimi, Laaro Rasheed, Alagbe Taiwo, Boniface Victory, Kayode Toba, Adeoye Adetunji, Lawal Favor, Abidoye Moradeyo, Magaji Iliasu and Abdulkadir Abdulmumini. and Musa Olasunkanmi.
Others include Marudeen Sadiq, Abogunrin Oluwasesan, Amidu Tiamiyu and Usman Abdulazeez.
“The suspects were arrested with guilty items including, but not limited to, various amounts of cash, notebooks with lists of voter names, POS devices, cell phones, voter cards, etc.
"During interrogation, some of the suspects identified themselves as party members and some admitted to distributing money to attract voters," he said.
Meanwhile, EFCC PRO added that the Gombe Zonal Command, led by Faruk Dogondaji, arrested 10 people in Gombe on suspicion of inciting voters, seized 43 packages and N1,923,900 in cash. rice field. However, he said an investigation is still underway to determine the guilt of each suspect.