Laraba MUREY
The Socio-Economic Research and Development Centre, SERDEC, has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to mandate anti-corruption agencies to monitor financial activities on bank accounts belonging to politicians in the forthcoming 2023 election.
Executive Director of SERDEC, Comrade Tijani Abdulkareem, who made this call in a statement on Thursday, said government, through its law enforcement and anti-corruption agencies should put political actors’ financial activities on the spotlight.
“President to mandate the Nigeria Police, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), and the Financial Intelligence Unit to keep a close watch on the financial activities of Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs) and political parties in the weeks before, during and after the elections,” he said.
Abdulkareem noted that SERDEC has kept close tabs on the Naira redesign and cash swap policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN.
According to him, president Buhari is on the right path on government’s efforts to stop the anti-democratic activities of vote buyers and other enemies of free, fair, and credible elections.
He added that although the implementation has caused serious hardships, which should be immediately addressed for the sake of millions of Nigerians, nonetheless, SERDEC believes that the ordinary people in the country need not bear the brunt of this policy.
“SERDEC is however not losing sight of the benefits of the policy in the area of curbing vote buying.
“SERDEC commends the government’s efforts to tackle vote buying during the general elections.
“SERDEC believes this is a more effective way to address the threat of vote buying, without disrupting the economy and the livelihood of honest and hardworking Nigerians.
“SERDEC reiterates its concurrence on the need to safeguard the right of Nigerians to freely elect their leaders, without coercion or inducement. We, therefore, stand with all well-meaning efforts to ensure the votes of the Nigerian people count,” he said.
.
