By Henry Uche, Lagos
As citizens and residents in Ekiti State decide who becomes their next governor on Saturday, June 18, through the ballots, the leading Advocate of good governance and anti-corruption civil society organisation (HEDA Resource Centre) has commended the Economic & Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for the reported arrest made of party agents for alleged vote-buying.
It was reported by several Media houses on Saturday that EFCC Officials Arrest ‘APC Agent’ for Alleged Vote-Buying while another agent of the opposition PDP was picked up based on a tip-off.
The reports have it that the Commission arrested them and some other party leaders for alleged vote-buying in the yet-to-be concluded gubernatorial elections (as at the time of filing this report) in the State.
The agents were nabbed at the polling unit located at Ola Oluwa Grammar School, Ilawe Road, Ado Ekiti, according to the reports.
Earlier, many concerned persons including Civil Society Organisations, independent Election Observers and party candidates have expressed fear on the possibility of political moneybags messing up the whole process, hence the hunger in the land.
Reacting to the arrest, the chairman of HEDA, Olanrewaju Suraju, applauded EFCC for swiftly arresting agents of political parties who were caught in the web of committing elections malpractices.
Suraju urged the anti-graft agency to ensure it prosecutes not only those caught but their masters.
“We commend EFCC for swift actions at the Ekiti elections. We demand full prosecution of everyone involved in vote-buying or any other form of electoral fraud and malpractices,”
He encouraged citizens to stay put and monitor the whole process as well as assist EFCC and other security agencies in the fight against vote-buying among other electoral malpractices.
“Nigerians are getting more enlightened politically as days turn weeks and weeks into months and so on. We have also observed that the electorate are getting emboldened to withstand any form of intimidation from any person. We encourage citizens to monitor the whole process, be vigilant and report any form of acts capable of truncating the people’s choice. We expect people’s vote to count at the end of collation,” he added.