The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has said that some of its officers deployed in election monitoring roles in Kaduna state were attacked while trying to arrest suspected vote-buying suspects in the state.
EFCC spokesman Wilson Uwujaren said this in a statement on Saturday.
Uwujaren said the attack took place after he went to an undisclosed location to arrest a suspect named Kabiru Musa, who was allegedly seen on camera persuading eligible voters by using his phone to transfer money to their accounts while they were casting their votes. .
“However, immediately accosted by the operatives, Musa turned rogue and yelled to get the attention of his union members, who descended on the operatives, using all kinds of weapons that left some of them injured,” he said.
The Commission said that the agents had to hold back very much to ignore the unprovoked attack, but insisted on arresting the suspect.
“As the team drove away with the suspect, his vehicle was pelted with rocks and other dangerous objects that damaged the windshield, and three officers sustained varying degrees of injury in the process,” it added.
The EFCC said the injured officers are receiving medical attention at the Kaduna Zonal Command Medical Center while the suspect is in custody awaiting the conclusion of the investigation.
Elections for state legislatures and governorships are still taking place across the country.
The EFCC, had announced, on Friday, that it deployed officers to monitor the ongoing elections for the governorship and the state assembly where the elections would take place.
It will be recalled that EFCC teams were similarly attacked during the presidential and national assembly elections, leaving some of their vehicles badly damaged.
Reacting to the incident, Commission Chairman Abdulrasheed Bawa praised the officers for exercising great restraint under extreme provocation. However, he called on the public to stop attacking Commission officials, as such action would no longer be tolerated.
