The Kwara State Resident Electoral Commissioner of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Mallam Attairu Garba Madami, on Wednesday, September 11, 2019 said the roles played by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, was the reason behind the success recorded before, during and after the 2019 general elections in the State.
Madami commended the anti-graft body for its positive roles in putting to an end the issue of vote buying and selling that was synonymous with elections in Nigeria.
The Resident Electoral Commissioner who made this known while speaking at the annual lecture of the Nigerian Union of Journalists, Kwara State Council said, “Since 2015 general elections, manipulating figures of election results have become impossible, so politicians now result to vote buying, but the EFCC has helped us a lots in Kwara State, they moved round the sixteen Local Government Areas of Kwara State on Election days, they even caught one person sharing money to induce voters in Ilorin, the State Capital, that’s why we were able to achieve positive results in the exercise”.
The guest speaker at the event, Mr Isyaku Sharu, the Ilorin Zonal Head of the EFCC said the Commission has helped in stopping the looting of Kwara State founds as would have occurred during the last elections.
“The Commission has investigated several top government officials and assisted in restoring some economic and financial sanity in the State. In fact, the wanton and reckless movement of huge cash has been largely checked leading to so many discoveries of property illicitly acquired by few civil servants in the State and some already forfeited to the federal government”.
The EFCC however urged the people of the zone to continue partnering with the Commission in fighting corruption as the battle can only be won through collaborative efforts with all the Stakeholders.
“We urge the NUJ to further its efforts in assisting us inform the people of this State that they need to brace up and flush out the bad ones among them so as to pave the way for a better Kwara State where our Children and the coming generations can bless us for our efforts”.
He further explained that “We shall need more of the professional assistance of the NUJ in sensitizing and re-sensitizing the people of Kwara State of our long lost values which abhors illicit and fraudulent tendencies,” he said.