Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has called for the arrest of politicians who are allegedly buying permanent voter cards (PVCs) from poor Nigerians.
SERAP urged President Muhammadu Buhari to direct the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, and appropriate anti-corruption agencies to identify and arrest the politicians indicted and promptly bring them to justice.
The civil society organisation (CSO) also urged the president to ‘ensure that the politicians and their sponsors who are suspected to be involved in these grave electoral and human rights crimes are named and shamed, regardless of their political affiliations’.
SERAP, in a letter dated 17 December, 2022, and signed by its Deputy Director, Kolawole Oluwadare, said, ‘Buying of PVCs from poor Nigerians is a threat to fair and representative elections, as it amounts to vote buying, undue influence and improper electoral influence’.
The electoral commission had recently raised the alarm that some politicians have been buying up PVCs and financially inducing unsuspecting voters to harvest their voter identification numbers ahead of the 2023 elections.
The Northern Elders Forum (NEF) has corroborated the allegations, reportedly stating that some politicians are buying PVCs with N2,000 in the north.
SERAP said, ‘The allegations that politicians and their sponsors are buying PVCs from poor Nigerians are grave violations of the Nigerian Constitution 1999 [as amended], the Electoral Act, and the country’s international anti-corruption and human rights obligations’.
The organisation said the right to vote is central to the enjoyment of other basic human rights but the right will have little meaning if politicians and their sponsors continue to buy PVCs and get away with their crime against the Nigerian people.
SERAP said if the recommended measures are not yielded to within seven days of publishing the letter, legal actions will be taken to compel the Buhari administration to comply with the request.
‘We would be grateful if the recommended measures are taken within seven days of the receipt and/or publication of this letter’, it said.
‘If we have not heard from you by then, SERAP shall consider appropriate legal actions to compel your government to comply with our request in the public interest’.
A recent report by Yiaga Africa revealed that voter inducement was reported in 33 states, but was more prevalent in Abia, Bauchi, Borno, Delta, Katsina, Kano, Niger, Oyo and Sokoto states.
The research also revealed that buying of PVCs was reported in Ugwuachara, Echiaba Ward, in Ebonyi State by APC supporters.
Source: SERAP
