Chinyere Igwe, a member of the House of Representatives contesting under the PDP, was arrested earlier today in Port Harcourt, with with $500,000 cash. Interestingly, this is happening just hours to this weekend’s polls.
Igwe, who serves Port Harcourt Federal Constituency 2, is also a campaigner for Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar.
More details: Nairametrics gathered that he was apprehended on Friday during a traffic check on Aba Road in Port Harcourt.
The Rivers State Police Public Relations Officer, Grace Iringe-Koko, verified the development to the public, according to her, “investigation is ongoing, and he will be charged to court when the investigation is finished.
Rivers State police also urged “all contestants and political parties to strictly comply with provisions of the Electoral Act and other pertinent legislation.”
Nigerians react: As expected, the development has elicited reactions from Nigerians, many of whom expressed their displeasure. Some Twitter users opined that the money was probably proceeds of corruption, embezzled from money ought to have been utilised towards making the country better.
Others alleged that the money was connected to the PDP’s presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar and possibly earmarked for bribing officers of the electoral umpire INEC.
- “Kindly see the #Atiku video trending on #TwitterNigeria currently. Likely linked to this arrest. @inecnigeria officials were mentioned in the video as potentials for bribe,” said one Twitter user identified as @I_Kehinde.
Meanwhile, others called for an immediate investigation to unravel those behind the large sum of money. Twitter user, @Mandycollection, said:
- “It should not be too hard. His call log will give out many big wigs who may resort to plan B and expose their many nefarious plans for this election.”
What you should know: The decision by the Central Bank of Nigeria to redesign some naira notes was aimed at making it harder for politicians to accumulate large amounts of money for bribe voters. Unfortunately, following this development, it appears the politicians have found a way around the policy.
In the meantime, the limited availability of the new naira notes has continued to cause widespread dissatisfaction and resentment. Citizens have been waiting for hours in lines outside banks to obtain cash, frequently without success. As a result, some individuals have resorted to attacking banks.
Note that for some Nigerians who do not possess bank accounts, cash is the only means of acquiring essential items such as food.
If someone is willing to splash 500k USD just in one state, then it may become easier to understand the reason for the endemic and deep seated corruption among these politicians. It’s clearer to see the reason nothing works in the country, because most politicians don’t really seem to care about improving the standard of living of the masses, but only view politics as a personal investment in which they spend looted money to win elections, and then focus mainly on recovering their election expenses by stealing even more when they return, leaving only limited funds for important government projects and the cycle continues.