Those buying PVCs are the ones weaponising poverty — PDP, LP

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Labour Party have alleged that the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) weaponised poverty in the country and was behind buying of Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) from registered voters to engage in electoral malpractice in the 2023 general elections.

Both PDP and LP made the allegations in reaction to the alarm raised by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) that some politicians are buying PVCs from unsuspecting Nigerians.

Mohammed Haruna, the National Commissioner overseeing Abuja, Nasarawa, Kaduna and Plateau states revealed on Monday in the nation’s capital that two people were recently convicted by INEC for illegal possession of PVCs in Sokoto and Kano states.

Reacting, the National Publicity Secretary of PDP, Debo Ologunagba told Vanguard that such alarm raised by INEC should not be handled with levity, but investigated to arrest and prosecute the offenders.

Ologunagba said further that APC has weaponised poverty in the country since its inception in 2015, thus behind buying of PVCs with money from poor Nigerians.

Ologunagba said: “The alarm raised by INEC should not be taken lightly because in the last couple of weeks, Nigerians have seen an upsurge in the desperate tactics by the ruling All Progressives Congress, to grab and retain power by all means including the purchase of PVCs from gullible people.

“The party has weaponized poverty which it intends to use to cow Nigerians into doing its bidding.

“While we await a thorough investigation to unravel the extent to which APCs desperation has led it into seeking to criminally manipulate our electoral process to subvert the will of Nigerians, we implore our security agencies and President Buhari, to remain faithful to their promise to bequeath a credible, free and fair election come 2023.”

In a similar reaction, the Chief Spokesperson of the Presidential Campaign Council of the Labour Party, Dr Yunusa Tanko while speaking with vanguard condemned electoral crime in all aspects.

“We in the Labour Party condemn electoral crime in all its ramifications. I’m certain the politicians being described by INEC are not within our rank or file, that is why we have been taking our plea for votes directly to Nigerians.

“Our candidate has been campaigning and appearing in debates and town hall meetings because he knows the power to put him and his running mate and of course, our party in office is in the hands of the people.

“We enjoin Nigerians to beware of politicians, who stole from our common patrimony while in office at one time or another.

“These are the same people who have come to use these same stolen funds to try to buy their PVCs and their votes,” Yunusa said.



FI