{"id":121464,"date":"2025-08-16T14:47:20","date_gmt":"2025-08-16T13:47:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/?p=121464"},"modified":"2025-08-16T14:47:20","modified_gmt":"2025-08-16T13:47:20","slug":"vote-buying-security-operatives-arrest-inec-staff-party-agents-with-cash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/vote-buying-security-operatives-arrest-inec-staff-party-agents-with-cash\/","title":{"rendered":"Vote Buying: Security Operatives Arrest INEC Staff, Party Agents With Cash"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By Myke Agunwa<\/div>\n
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Vote buying and other electoral malfeasance have continued to contaminate the electoral process, as security operatives at a hotel in Iperu-Remo, Ogun State on Saturday, arrested two persons suspected to be staff of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) over attempts to compromise the ongoing Bye-Elections in some parts of the country.<\/div>\n
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They also picked up a party agent identified as Shehu Aliyu Patangi at about 3:30AM at a hotel along Turunku Road in Kaduna metropolis with N25.9 million cash.<\/div>\n
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Pointblanknews.com learnt that the two INEC staff, whose names were not mentioned as at the time of filling this report, were arrested alongside a politician who was allegedly planning to induce the staff with a huge sum of money.<\/div>\n
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The suspects were arrested at a hotel in Iperu-Remo, Ikenne Local Government Area on Saturday.<\/div>\n
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In a viral video circulating online, the INEC officials, a man and a woman, were seen squatting while being questioned by security agents.<\/div>\n
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The officer interrogating them said intelligence showed that the INEC staff had earlier been contacted and given a large sum of money by the party officials for vote buying during the bye-election.<\/div>\n
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Efforts to reach the Chief Press Secretary to the INEC Chairman, Kayode Olukanmi to confirm the identity of the staff were unsuccessful as his number was not available.<\/div>\n
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Similarly, The Kaduna police command announced that its operatives have arrested a man with N25.9 million cash allegedly set aside for vote-buying in the state\u2019s bye-election.<\/div>\n
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In a statement on Saturday, spokesperson for the police command in Kaduna, Mansir Hassan said the arrest was made in collaboration with the Department of State Services (DSS).<\/div>\n
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He said cash totaling N25,963,000, believed to used to induce voters during the polls was recovered from Patangi.<\/div>\n
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The statement reads, \u201cAt about 0330hrs today, we arrested one Shehu Aliyu Patangi at a popular hotel located along Turunku Road in Kaduna metropolis,\u201d the statement reads.<\/div>\n
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\u201cWe recovered a total cash sum of twenty-five million, nine hundred and sixty-three thousand naira (\u20a625,963,000) from the suspect; the money is believed to have been earmarked for inducing voters to compromise the electoral process.\u201d<\/div>\n
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\u201cPreliminary investigations revealed that the suspect had planned to use the said amount to bribe eligible voters.<\/div>\n
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\u201cOn interrogation, the suspect confessed to the crime and pleaded for leniency.\u201d<\/div>\n
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According to the statement, the Commissioner of police in Kaduna, Rabiu Muhammad commended the DSS for the synergy and quick intervention that led to the arrest.<\/div>\n
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Muhammad warned that anyone who attempts to undermine the electoral process, \u201cregardless of status\u201d, would face the full weight of the law.<\/div>\n
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The bye election is holding in 16 federal and state constituencies, as well as senatorial districts, across 12 states of the federation.<\/div>\n
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