Men of the Nigeria Anti-corruption police, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC has arrested some vote buyers at ward 7 in Oredo local government area just as men of the Armed Forces of Nigeria, AFN also arrested some group of thugs allegedly belong to the All Progressives Congress, APC as Oredo Ward 3 in the ongoing 2024 Edo State Governorship election.

Video posted online showed moment EFCC officials held and dragged some men out of the polling units in the ward and took them away probably for arrest and detention.

Another video posted online by residents showed some group of thugs being taken out from Sienna vehicle by soldiers after they were said to have been arrested at Ward 3 in Oredo local government area with pump action guns.

Voices in the background of the video said they are  apparently APC thugs who believed they can win the election with the use of guns.

The video showed the vehicle the suspected thugs used which have APC campaign messages painted on it.

We had reported that the Nigeria anti-corruption police, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC says it has deployed its men and women across the 18 local government areas of Edo State to monitor the activities of this Saturday Governorship election in the state to ensure that the electoral process is free from vote buying.

EFCC in a statement made availble on Friday said that vote buying is a financial crime and urged members of the public especially Edo State residents to desist from such act in this Saturday guber poll.

“Operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, have been deployed to all local government areas in Edo State to tackle voters’ inducement in the Saturday, September 21, 2024 governorship elections.

Commenting on this, Executive Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Mr Ola Olukoyede stated that the EFCC was committed to the attainment of electoral integrity across the country by insulating voters from every form of financial inducement in exercising their franchise.

“Our operatives have been deployed to monitor the conduct of the elections. We are committed to the attainment of electoral integrity by ensuring that voters cast their votes democratically without any form of financial inducement. Vote buying is a financial crime and the EFCC won’t allow it anywhere”, he said.

The Commission has always been involved in monitoring every electoral process across the country in line with its mandate of tackling all forms of economic and financial crimes”, the statement reads.

It would be recalled that in the last Governorship election in the state in 2020, EFCC tasked bankers in the state to report any suspicious transactions few days to the election in September, 2020.

EFCC in a news report then stated that: “As the Edo State governorship election draws near, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, (EFCC) Benin zonal office, has advised Compliance officers of banks to report suspicious transactions to the Commission.

Benin Zonal head of the EFCC, Muhtar Bello stated this during a meeting with compliance officers of various banks in Benin City, Edo State.

Bello who spoke to the bankers on behalf of the acting Executive Chairman, Umar Abba Mohammed, charged the bankers to be alert as politicians may want to use banks for illicit transactions before, during and after the elections.

“Once the transaction is above the stipulated threshold, you have a duty to report. So be alert, ” he said.

He noted that bankers have a key role to play in the fight against corruption and economic and financial crimes, but bemoaned the fact that most of the fraud committed by fraudsters, are aided by bankers.

“Sometimes bankers are culpable because they do not always carry out due diligence and comprehensive Know Your Customers, KYC. KYC should be a continuous process”. he said.

He charged bankers to adhere strictly with banking rules, shun temptation in the line of duty and report any transaction that fails the simple rules of integrity. “Adhere to the rules of Know Your Customer and acquaint yourself with the Money Laundering Act, so you don’t fail in your duties”, he said.