On Saturday, March 9th, 2019, during the Gubernatorial and State houses of Assembly elections, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) tweeted a picture of a drone it had utilized to monitor election activity in Benin, Edo state.
#Polls EFCC drone on surveillance in Benin, Edo State. #SayNoToVoteBuyingpic.twitter.com/pHdJ4tQ9Or
— EFCC Nigeria (@officialEFCC) March 9, 2019
This was part of the Government agency’s strategy to combat vote-buying. The drone was used in the Oba Market polling unit in Benin.
Reactions, however, were not positive. A Twitter user by the name of Mohammed Ali, whose bio describes him as a Software developer and hardware builder, faulted the type of drone used by the EFCC to carry out its surveillance exercise. The model used is the Spark by Chinese drone manufacturer DJI.
Another response from another Twitter user expressed the same sentiment
OMG .. that is very unprofessional esp for a govt anti graft agency to use DJI Spark for surveillance.
It is a selfie-drone.
More or less for personal use or photography but not for espionage or crime detection.
Get one the drones meant for the JOB.
EFCC is not a joke !!!— Mohammed Ali (@ilmanati) March 9, 2019
I laughed when I saw the drone they were bragging about. The government can do better.
This is a selfie drone & can’t stay airborne more than 40mins (I own a Phantom 3 Pro, so I know)
Limited range for surveillance as well.
We will like to know the budget for this equipment.— PH Resident Visitor (@iamVOE) March 9, 2019