Vote buying: EFCC arrests 19 suspects in Kwara

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Saturday in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, North Central Nigeria, paraded 19 suspected vote buyers arrested during the Gubernatorial and State House of Assembly elections.

The suspects were paraded at the head office of the commission, located in the Government Reserved Area of Ilorin.

Speaking with journalists, the Acting Head, Ilorin zonal office, Micheal Nzekwe, said the mandate of the Commission was to ensure that money influence in politics is halted and eradicated.

According to him, the suspects were directly involved in vote buying as the Commission got credible intelligence on which it acted to apprehend the suspects.

Nzekwe disclosed that some were arrested in Omu-Aran, Ilorin South and Ilorin West.

He added that investigation would commence immediately and the provisions of the law would be followed afterwards.

”Though they were picked in different locations across the state with money and Point on Sale (PoS) machines found in their possession, we will conduct further investigation to ascertain the facts.

”We are an agency set up by law and we will strictly go with the provisions of the law after we have concluded investigation,” the acting zonal head said.

Emmanuel Ukoh