Ahead of the March 11 governorship election, HEDA has requested that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) clamp down on politicians looking to buy votes.

The Human and Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA Resource Center) request is being made in light of the Supreme Court’s decision to extend the expiration date for the old N200, N500, and N1,000 note until December 31, 2023.

In a statement by its Chairman, Olanrewaju Suraju, the anti-corruption group claimed the proposed measure to combat corruption and insurgency would be undermined by the use of old naira notes as legal tender.

“With the Supreme Court judgment delivered that the old notes continue to be legal tender, the Central Bank and other financial institutions must swing into action and deploy some measures to track and counterfeit illicit money flow transactions by corrupt politicians and their allies,” the statement read.

“Improved scrutiny should be intensified by the Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit and the EFCC to track bank officials, estate managers and Bureau de Changes for suspicious movement of toxic funds within and outside the financial institutions,” it added.

He argued that vote-buying may be on the rise due to the availability of old naira notes, compared to what was seen during the presidential elections.

He urged the EFCC to maintain its commendable efforts to combat politicians’ use of vote-buying tactics to undermine the integrity of the electoral process.