The Executive Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Abdulrasheed Bawa on Wednesday reiterated the anti-graft agency’s resolve to ensure free, fair and credible elections in Nigeria, by tackling all forms of electoral fraud.
The EFCC boss stated this in Abuja while speaking at an interfaith peace summit organized by the Nigerian Television Authority’s Abrahamic Mission in collaboration with the Al-habibiyah organisation, with the theme ‘Prosecuting Peaceful Election; Role of Faith Communities’.
The EFCC boss who spoke through his representative, an assistant commander and assistant director, Media and Publicity Unit of the agency, Dele Oyewale, noted that the commission was determined to ensure the integrity of the electoral process by tackling all forms of electoral fraud including vote buying, vote selling, monetisation and other things that might affect the integrity of the electoral process.
He said, “As an anti-corruption agency, the EFCC is equipped to ensure that every necessary process, rule and regulation of the elections are complied with. For us to ensure peace, we must ensure that there is no manipulation, there is nothing that will trigger any form of violence. To this end, any form of electoral irregularity, malpractice, compromise of the electoral process would be tackled.
“In all the fourteen zonal commands of the EFCC, we have our officers on ground that will monitor all the electoral processes and the conduct of the election. We are ready and committed; we have all the necessary resources that will ensure that the right thing is done before, during and even after the elections.
“It will interest you to know that in the previous elections that we had, several arrests were made in respect of vote buying, vote selling and other forms of irregularity in the electoral process. Some of them have even been charged to court. So it is a very serious thing to ensure that the right thing is done, so that there will be justice and the right type of people elected by the electorate actually emerged.”
He further called on all Nigerians to join hands with the EFCC in its quest to rid the country of all forms of economic and financial crimes and to leverage on the whistleblower policy of the federal government.
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He added, “But for us to do this and to do it very creditably, we will need the cooperation of Nigerians from all walks of life. We desire the cooperation of whistleblowers to give us information about what is happening in their neighborhood.”
Convener of the summit, Imam Fuad Adeyemi of Al-Habibiyah, emphasized the need for educating the people on the importance of acquiring knowledge.
He said, “When we have the right education, we cannot be fighting ourselves; there is no way that somebody with the right education will fight, except those that are being used by the devil.”
Emphasizing the need for credible elections, the representative of the Ambassador of the United States, Jason Currier, stated that the US does not support any particular political party or candidate but a peaceful democratic process.
“What the United States Government want to emphasize is that we do not support a party or candidate, we support a just, peaceful process that reflect the will of the people,” he said.
He called on all Nigerians to ensure that peace reigns before, during and after the elections.
