The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has sent observers to the governorship elections in Bayelsa, Imo, and Kogi on Saturday.
Mrs. Azuka Ogugua, the Commission’s spokeswoman, stated this in a statement issued on Thursday in Abuja.
According to her, operatives from the commission have been dispatched to the 56 local government areas and 649 wards in the three states where the election will take place.
The operatives, according to Ogugua, were to monitor and prevent vote-buying and other electoral malpractices at the various polling stations during the election.
“The monitoring exercise is a response to the invitation by the INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, for the ICPC to participate in ensuring that the electoral processes in these three states are free and fair.”
She stated that during the exercise, the ICPC‘s Head of Special Duties Division (SDD), Mr. Alex Chukwura, encouraged the operatives to engage with other sister agencies.
Before their deployment, Chukwura instructed the operatives to work with the military, police, the Department of State Security, other security agencies, and INEC to ensure free and fair elections.
The SDD chief tasked the operatives with rigorously adhering to the ICPC norms for election monitoring.
He stated that while on the pitch, officers should always act with discipline and absorb the spirit of integrity, as well as keep close to one another and work as a team to attain the desired goal.
He also instructed the officers to take appropriate measures against any perpetrators of corruption during the election, regardless of socioeconomic status, in accordance with the law.
“Voters in the three states aforesaid are charged to go out on Election day and perform their civic responsibilities while avoiding any act that could lead to electoral and other related offences,” he said.
