Beautiful Virgin Islands

Tuesday, Jul 22, 2025

Nigerian politician arrested with $500,000 on election eve

Nigerian politician arrested with $500,000 on election eve

A Nigerian politician has been arrested for alleged money laundering after being caught with $498,100 (£414,000) in cash a day before general elections.
The piles of US dollars were found by police inside Chinyere Igwe’s car. Igwe, an opposition PDP member of the House of Representatives, was also caught with a list of people to give the money to, police say.

In previous elections, politicians have been accused of rigging polls through vote buying.

Nigeria has recently issued new banknotes, partly in order to make it harder for politicians to amass large sums of money in order to bribe voters.

However, not enough of the new notes are in circulation, leading to widespread anger and frustration. People have been queuing for hours outside banks in order to get cash, often without success, while some have attacked banks.

Some 40% of Nigerians do not have bank accounts and so rely on cash to buy food, and for other everyday uses.

In a Twitter thread, police in Rivers State, where Igwe was arrested, urged “all contestants and political parties to comply strictly with provisions of the Electoral Act and other relevant laws”.

Igwe, who represents part of the southern city of Port Harcout, has not yet commented on the matter.

The elections are predicted to be the most competitive since the end of military rule in 1999, with three candidates — Atiku Abubakar of the PDP, Peter Obi of the Labour Party and Bola Tinubu of the governing APC —all seen as potential winners.

The head of the country’s electoral commission, Inec, has told the BBC’s Peter Okwoche that the authorities are prepared for Saturday’s vote.

“Reports around the country indicate that materials are being delivered to the local governments as planned,” Mahmood Yakubu said.

“We’re exactly where we wanted to be in terms of preparation,” Yakubu added, saying security agencies had “assured” Inec that the vote would go ahead smoothly.

There had been concerns that it might not be possible to hold the election in parts of the country, which is facing an Islamist insurgency in the north-east, a nationwide kidnapping-for-ransom crisis and a separatist insurgency in the south-east.

A senatorial candidate for the opposition Labour Party, Oyibo Chukwu, was killed on Wednesday in the southeastern Enugu State while he was returning from the campaign trail. Police have blamed the separatist group Ipob for the killings. Ipob has not yet commented.

The authorities have ordered the closure of all land borders for Saturday’s vote starting from midnight for 24 hours, to stop foreign nationals from trying to vote.

On Thursday Inec revealed that a total of 87.2 million voter cards had been collected. More than 93 million people had registered to vote, which means that some six million people had not managed to collect their cards and so would not be able to cast their ballots.

There have been reports of people saying they were unable to collect their cards. There was one case of voter cards reportedly being dumped in a bush, only to be discovered by a hunter.
Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
US Treasury Secretary Calls for Institutional Review of Federal Reserve Amid AI‑Driven Growth Expectations
UK Government Considers Dropping Demand for Apple Encryption Backdoor
Severe Flooding in South Korea Claims Lives Amid Ongoing Rescue Operations
Japanese Man Discovers Family Connection Through DNA Testing After Decades of Separation
Russia Signals Openness to Ukraine Peace Talks Amid Escalating Drone Warfare
Switzerland Implements Ban on Mammography Screening
Japanese Prime Minister Vows to Stay After Coalition Loses Upper House Majority
Pogacar Extends Dominance with Stage Fifteen Triumph at Tour de France
CEO Resigns Amid Controversy Over Relationship with HR Executive
Man Dies After Being Pulled Into MRI Machine Due to Metal Chain in New York Clinic
NVIDIA Achieves $4 Trillion Valuation Amid AI Demand
US Revokes Visas of Brazilian Corrupted Judges Amid Fake Bolsonaro Investigation
U.S. Congress Approves Rescissions Act Cutting Federal Funding for NPR and PBS
North Korea Restricts Foreign Tourist Access to New Seaside Resort
Brazil's Supreme Court Imposes Radical Restrictions on Former President Bolsonaro
Centrist Criticism of von der Leyen Resurfaces as she Survives EU Confidence Vote
Judge Criticizes DOJ Over Secrecy in Dropping Charges Against Gang Leader
Apple Closes $16.5 Billion Tax Dispute With Ireland
Von der Leyen Faces Setback Over €2 Trillion EU Budget Proposal
UK and Germany Collaborate on Global Military Equipment Sales
Trump Plans Over 10% Tariffs on African and Caribbean Nations
Flying Taxi CEO Reclaims Billionaire Status After Stock Surge
Epstein Files Deepen Republican Party Divide
Zuckerberg Faces $8 Billion Privacy Lawsuit From Meta Shareholders
FIFA Pressured to Rethink World Cup Calendar Due to Climate Change
SpaceX Nears $400 Billion Valuation With New Share Sale
Microsoft, US Lab to Use AI for Faster Nuclear Plant Licensing
Trump Walks Back Talk of Firing Fed Chair Jerome Powell
Zelensky Reshuffles Cabinet to Win Support at Home and in Washington
"Can You Hit Moscow?" Trump Asked Zelensky To Make Putin "Feel The Pain"
Irish Tech Worker Detained 100 days by US Authorities for Overstaying Visa
Dimon Warns on Fed Independence as Trump Administration Eyes Powell’s Succession
Church of England Removes 1991 Sexuality Guidelines from Clergy Selection
Superman Franchise Achieves Success with Latest Release
Hungary's Viktor Orban Rejects Agreements on Illegal Migration
Jeff Bezos Considers Purchasing Condé Nast as a Wedding Gift
Ghislaine Maxwell Says She’s Ready to Testify Before Congress on Epstein’s Criminal Empire
Bal des Pompiers: A Celebration of Community and Firefighter Culture in France
FBI Chief Kash Patel Denies Resignation Speculations Amid Epstein List Controversy
Air India Pilot’s Mental Health Records Under Scrutiny
Google Secures Windsurf AI Coding Team in $2.4 Billion Licence Deal
Jamie Dimon Warns Europe Is Losing Global Competitiveness and Flags Market Complacency
South African Police Minister Suspended Amid Organised Crime Allegations
Nvidia CEO Claims Chinese Military Reluctance to Use US AI Technology
Hong Kong Advances Digital Asset Strategy to Address Economic Challenges
Australia Rules Out Pre‑commitment of Troops, Reinforces Defence Posture Amid US‑China Tensions
Martha Wells Says Humanity Still Far from True Artificial Intelligence
Nvidia Becomes World’s First Four‑Trillion‑Dollar Company Amid AI Boom
U.S. Resumes Deportations to Third Countries After Supreme Court Ruling
Excavation Begins at Site of Mass Grave for Children at Former Irish Institution
×