Ahead of the 2023 general elections, the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) has said that it recorded over N200bn suspicious transactions from government accounts.
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU), Modibbo Haman Tukur, said this on Thursday in Abuja at the 27th Anti-Corruption Situation Room (ACSR), of the Human and Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA Resource Centre).
The event themed, ‘Towards Nigeria’s 2023 general elections’ was organised by HEDA Resource Centre in partnership with the Women Advocates Research and Documentation Centre (WARDC), National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and MacArthur Foundation.
“Before 2019, every year we use to have report of about, may be N100bn suspicious transaction, but in 2019, to show you the correlation between cash and election rigging in Nigeria. In 2029 alone, we have over N200bn suspicious transactions from government accounts. So, you can now see the link between election crime and cash,” Tukur represented by Mallam Badaru Abubakar said.
According to him, the insecurity in Nigeria is tied to the kind of people we have in power.
He said, “Because the know anyhow they can win elections, you don’t need to perform in Nigeria.”
He also noted that the Electoral Act has already cover most of the fears expressed by Nigerians.
“But the Act alone cannot operate itself. It is left for us, the public, security agencies and other organ of government to operate that Act. But the major issue is not even the security agencies or other arms of government.
“Who collect money to vote? Who did they use as collation officers, they are all Nigerians, they don’t come from anywhere, they are all part of us in this country. We at NFIU, we are not supposed to be seen, we are supposed to be felt. On our own part, we are doing our best.
“Before 2019, every year we use to have report of about, may be N100bn suspicious transaction, but in 2019, to show you the correlation between cash and election rigging in Nigeria. In 2029 alone, we have over N200bn suspicious transactions from government accounts. So, you can now see the link between election crime and cash,” he said.
