By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Efforts are being intensified by the All Progressives Congress (APC), backed by Abuja, to buy the vote in the Edo governorship election on Saturday, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has alleged.
State PDP Publicity Secretary, Chris Nehikhare, cited a video trending on social media in which APC members “were seen distributing wrappers and money to Edo women, in exchange for their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs).”
He expressed concern that after commitment to a free, fair and credible poll by stakeholders, “the APC could still embark on schemes aimed at derailing the process through vote buying.”
Nehikhare recalled in a statement that on Tuesday, the PDP alerted the public to a similar vote buying scheme by the APC with an emergency federal government empowerment programme, aimed at obtaining PVCs from voters.
“We noted that the scheme was contrived and packaged to be a pet project of the wife of the candidate of the APC, Idia Ize-Iyamu, implemented through the National Directorate of Employment (NDE).
“We wish to state that any such scheme aimed at sharing money to voters in Edo State at this time amounts to vote buying and we call on the international community to impose sanctions on officials of government that are behind these schemes designed to induce Edo voters, contrary to the provisions of the Electoral Act.”