Usman Baba, the Inspector General of Police, has pledged to detain and bring charges against any politicians found carrying bags of cash on election days in an effort to buy votes.
At a one-day stakeholder summit on addressing the influence of money on the 2023 general election, the IGP made this statement on Monday in Abuja.
The Nigerian police, which is in charge of overseeing electoral security, is working diligently to prevent the use of money to influence the general elections in 2023.
“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.
A lot of people have already been arrested for purchasing voter registration cards in order to rig the 2023 elections, according to Baba, who was represented by Assistant Inspector General of Police for Operations Bala Ciroma.
He continued by saying that some political thugs had also been detained and were currently facing legal charges.
“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.
