INEC Raises Alarm Over Increasing Money Politics

Category: Nigeria News

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says the current democracy in Nigeria is being threatened by the predominance of money politics.

The INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, said this at a one-day colloquim on Emerging Issues that will Shape the 2023 General Elections in Nigeria organised by the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD) in collaboration with Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA) in Abuja, yesterday.

Yakubu said that there were critical challenges to be overcome in the conduct of the 2023 election namely insecurity, fake news and money politics.

My third area of concern is the influence of money on politics and is becoming more present and the risk is that ours may soon become a plutocracy for the rich rather than a democracy for the people.

“The way money is exchanging hands is a source of concern, yes, we have collaboration with ICPC and the EFCC and only recently we renewed our collaboration with the EFCC, saying that we are going to do something together.

“However , there are two dimensions to it, when you have willing connectors it becomes a bit more difficult to contain the situation.

“On the one hand, you have brilliant examples, we all saw this on the social media in Anambra when there was an attempt to bribe voters and the women refused to accept the money and voted their conscience,” he said.