A Nigerian politician has been arrested on charges of money laundering after being caught with $498,100 (£414,000) in cash a day before the general election.
Stacks of US dollars were found by police inside Chinyere Igwe’s car.
Mr. Igwe, an opposition PDP member of the House of Representatives, was also caught with a list of people he would give money to, the police said.
In previous elections, politicians were accused of rigging the polls by buying votes.
Nigeria recently issued new banknotes, in part to make it harder for politicians to raise large sums of money to bribe voters.
However, not enough of the new notes in circulation, leading to widespread anger and frustration. People have been queuing for hours outside banks to get money, often unsuccessfully, while some have stormed the bank.
About 40% of Nigerians do not have a bank account and therefore rely on cash to buy food, and for their daily use.
In a Twitter thread, the police in Rivers State, where Mr Igwe was arrested, called on “all contestants and political parties to strictly comply with the provisions of the Electoral Act and other relevant laws”.
Mr. Igwe, who represents part of the southern town of Port Harcout, is yet to comment on the matter.
The election is 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 Labor Party and Bola Tinubu of the ruling APC – all seen as potential winners.
The head of the country’s electoral commission, Inec, told the BBC’s Peter Okwoche that authorities are ready for Saturday’s election.
“Reports across the country show that materials are being delivered to local governments as planned,” said Mahmood Yakubu.
“We are exactly where we wanted to be in terms of preparation,” Mr. Yakubu added, saying the security agency has “guaranteed” Inec that the vote will go ahead smoothly.
There are concerns that it will not be possible to hold elections in parts of the country, which is facing an Islamist insurgency in the northeast, a national ransom kidnapping crisis and a separatist insurgency in the southeast.
A senatorial candidate for the opposition Labor Party, Oyibo Chukwu, was shot dead on Wednesday in south-eastern Enugu State as he was returning from a campaign trail. Parliamentary elections in Enugu East have been postponed following the killings.
Police blamed the separatist group Ipob for the killing. The group has yet to comment.
Authorities ordered the closure of all land borders for Saturday’s vote from midnight for 24 hours, to prevent foreign nationals from attempting to vote.
On Thursday Inec announced that a total of 87.2 million voter cards had been collected. More than 93 million people have registered to vote, which means that about six million people cannot collect their cards and cannot vote.
There have been reports of people not being able to collect their cards. There was one case of a voter’s card being reported thrown in the bush, only to be found by hunters.