‘VOTE BUYING’: PDP Rep seeking reelection nabbed with $500,000 on election eve

Hon Chinyere Igwe, member representing Port Harcourt II Federal Constituency at the House of Representatives, has been arrested by the police.

In a statement, the Command’s Public Relations Officer, SP Grace Iringe Koko, confirmed that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) lawmaker who is seeking reelection was nabbed with $498,100 cash.

Also recovered, according to the police, was a list for distribution of the money.

She said the AIG in charge of election in the state, Abutu Yaro, has ordered swift interrogation and prosecution of the lawmaker.

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Yaro urged all contestants and political parties to comply strictly with provisions of the Electoral Act and other relevant laws.

The police also encouraged members of the pubic to give vital information to the police.

The development comes two days after a Chief Magistrate’s Court sitting in Port Harcourt remanded the lawmaker representing Etche/Omuma federal constituency in the House of Representatives, Hon Ephraim Nwuzi, to the Nigerian Correctional Centre in the state.

This followed a remand proceeding preferred against him by the Rivers State Police Command.

The police had accused the federal lawmaker, who is also the All Progressives Congress candidate for Etche-Omuma Federal Constituency in the February 25, 2023 election of treasonable felony, conspiracy, motion of communal crisis and inciting violence.

Vote buying has been a major challenge in Nigeria’s elections. Anti-graft agencies have vowed to crack down on politicians seeking to induce voters during the 2023 elections.