Politics
Blow for Buhari govt as Transparency Int’l tags TraderMoni form of vote buying
The President Muhammadu Buhari-led Federal Government has been accused of indulging in the inducement of Nigerian voters with TraderMoni scheme, which is supervised by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.
Transparency International Nigeria (TIN) chairman, Awwal Rafsanjani, made the allegation on Friday when he spoke on Lunchtime Politics, a Channels Television programme.
According to him, the initiative was an “official use of public funds in the name of TraderMoni to actually induce voters.”
Part of his argument was that the scheme was never part and parcel of the manifesto of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) party and also not in the Nigerian constitution.
He added, “It was not done three years ago. It was only started close to election time. So, the allegation by many Nigerians that this is clearly a case of vote buying using public funds goes contrary to our constitution and to having a free and fair election.
“That is why the Independent National Electoral Commission itself has seen this danger. The vote buying we are seeing has transformed to have more official recognition through the acts that unfortunately we are seeing performed by some of the agencies using public funds.
“This is despite the statement by the President that public funds will not be used for his re-election campaign. But this, unfortunately, is contrary to what Nigerians are seeing.”
The Buhari government had continued to justify the scheme with the claim that it was an empowerment programme initiated with the aim of meeting the financing needs of at least two million petty traders across the country.
READ ALSO: Tyranny is under construction in Nigeria – Shehu Sani
But puncturing that argument, the international anti-graft agency boss said if the Nigerian government had TraderMoni as a policy plan, that it should have started its implementation earlier than a few weeks to the elections.
He went further to say that mixing election campaigns with “distribution of money” is ill-advised.
Beneficiaries of the TraderMoni scheme are said to get a collateral free loan of N10,000, said to be repayable within a period of six months.
Join the conversation
Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism
Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.
As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.
If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.
Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.
INVESTIGATION: In Kwara, multimillion-naira milk processing plant is abandoned, converted to a chicken outlet
After the government spent millions of naira to establish a milk processing plant in Kwara State that would provided jobs...
SPECIAL REPORT: For Sokoto communities, promise of healthcare is akin to death sentence
In this story, ABDULRASHEED HAMMAD delves into the dire realities of Primary Health Care services in Sokoto State, shedding light...
ICYMI…SPECIAL REPORT: NNPCL hides behind PIA to frustrate disclosure, accountability
Nigeria’s major oil company, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL), in what appears to be a common practice of disregard...
INVESTIGATION: Multi-million naira Ekiti resort center remains uncompleted a decade after
The multimillion-naira project, expected to comprise recreational buildings, now consists of cassava farmland, a bush used for excretion, and a...
SPECIAL REPORT: Torturous experiences of students with disabilities in Oyo tertiary institutions
For students with disabilities in Oyo state-owned tertiary institutions, learning is a torturous and distressing experience, considering the building structures...