The Acting Executive Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Mr. Ibrahim Magu has declared that vote- buying cannot produce credible leaders.
He said this on Saturday in Port Harcourt, Rivers State through the Port Harcourt’s Zonal Head of the EFCC, Mr. Abdulrasheed Bawa in two separates live- Radio programme. According to him, leaders elected through vote- buying cannot ensure good governance, accountability and transparency.
“Vote buying allows ill- gotten funds to be channeled into the electoral system. This is unacceptable. We need credible leaders.There can be no prosperity and good governance without such leaders. So, we must shun vote buying because it cannot produce such leaders”, he stressed.
Bawa
explained that, by the provisions of the Electoral Act, there are thresholds on what each political party or candidate can spend as campaign funds. He stressed that money should not be spent to buy votes and urged Nigerians to reject and expose vote buyers. He pointed out that vote buying was an economic crime and should be avoided by every Nigerian.
Several questions were posed to him by callers that phoned to participate in the programme. Such questions pertained to the role of EFCC in election monitoring, techniques of tracing illicit funds and penalties for vote buying.
