The All Progressives Congress (APC), Sokoto State Chapter on Sunday said it has uncovered plans to buy off Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) from unsuspecting electorate, especially women, across the state, urging eligible voters to be wary of such “anti-democratic elements.”
“In the same vein, there is also such a dastardly move to use some fake eligible voters to mop up all uncollected PVCs, from the various offices of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), across the 23 local governments of the state,” it added.
The North West Coordinator of the APC Presidential Campaign Council, Senator Aliyu Magatakarda Wamakko, made the allegation during the flag off of APC campaigns in Gwadabawa and Illela local government areas of Sokoto.
“We are aware of this heinous move and we are therefore calling on eligible voters in the state to be wary of these anti-democratic and unscrupulous elements,” he stated.
Wamakko, who is Chairman of the Northern Senators Forum, urged the electorate to be vigilant and ensure that only voters who hail from their respective polling units cast their votes in their various areas.
“Husbands and Heads of families across the state should therefore be on the lookout and make sure that these shylock-failed politicians do not egocentrically disenfranchise their wives, as well as household member.”
He urged the electorate to massively cast their votes for APC candidates at all levels.
The party’s gubernatorial candidate, Alhaji Ahmed Aliyu Sokoto said if elected he would “urgently fill the existing wide gap in terms of the deficit of developmental projects, occasioned by the colossal failure of the incumbent PDP-led administration in the state.”
However, when asked for comment on the alleged plans by fake voters to mop up all uncollected PVCs, the Head of Voter Education at INEC office in Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Musa, reiterated that “there is no collection of PVCs by proxy.”
He explained that PVC collection has a process which the commission adheres to ensure only the card owner receives it.