Crime
Nigerian politician arrested with $500,000 on election eve.
Nigerian politician arrested with $500,000 on election eve.
Chinyere Igwe represents the southern city of Port Harcourt in the House of Representatives
Mr Igwe, an opposition PDP member of the House of Representatives, was also caught with a
list of people to give the money to, police say.
Politicians have been accused of rigging polls through vote buying in previous elections.
Nigeria has recently issued new banknotes to make it harder for politicians to amass large
sums of money to bribe voters. However, insufficient new notes are circulating, leading to
widespread anger and frustration.
Chinyere Igwe, an opposition PDP member, halted with $500,000 on election eve
People have been queuing for hours outside banks to get cash, often without success, while
some have attacked banks. Some 40% of Nigerians do not have bank accounts and rely on
money to buy food and other everyday uses.
In a Twitter thread, police in Rivers State, where Mr Igwe was arrested, urged “all contestants
and political parties to comply strictly with provisions of the Electoral Act and other relevant
laws”. Mr Igwe, who represents part of the southern city of Port Harcourt, has not yet
commented on the matter.
Nigerian politician arrested with $500,000 on election eve.
The elections are predicted to be the most competitive since the end of military rule in
1999, with three candidates – Atiku Abubakar of the PDP, Peter Obi of the Labour Party
and Bola Tinubu of the ruling APC – all seen as potential winners.
The head of the country’s electoral commission, Inec, has told the BBC’s Peter Okwoche that the
authorities are prepared for Saturday’s vote. “Reports around the country indicate that materials
are being delivered to the local governments as planned,” Mahmood Yakubu said. “We’re exactly
where we wanted to be in terms of preparation,” Mr Yakubu added, saying security agencies had
“assured” Inec that the vote would go smoothly.
PDP member of the House of Representatives caught with $498,100 (£414,000) in cash
There had been concerns that it might not be possible to hold the election in some parts of the country,
which is facing an Islamist insurgency in the northeast, a nationwide kidnapping-for-ransom crisis and
a separatist insurgency in the southeast.
A senatorial candidate for the opposition Labour Party, Oyibo Chukwu, was shot dead on
Wednesday in the south-eastern Enugu State while returning from the campaign trail. The
parliamentary election in Enugu East has been postponed following his killing.
Police have blamed the separatist group Ipob for the killings. However, the group has not
yet commented. The authorities have ordered the closure of all land borders for Saturday’s
vote starting from midnight for 24 hours to stop foreign nationals from trying to vote.
Unclaimed Voters Card
On Thursday, Inec revealed that 87.2 million voter cards had been collected. However, more than
93 million people had registered to vote, meaning that some six million people had not collected
their cards and could not cast their ballots.
There have been reports of people saying they could not collect their cards. There was one case of
voter cards reportedly being dumped in a bush, only to be discovered by a hunter.
Nigerian politician arrested with $500,000 on election eve.
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