Kaduna APC denies buying PVC for N10,000

The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kaduna State has denied claims by the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that it paid N10,000 to each prospective voter to collect their Permanent Voter Card (PVC), saying that purchase of PVC in the current electoral dispensation is a waste of resource.

PDP had asked the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to investigate the source of the money APC allegedly shared with voters in Kaduna in exchange for their PVCs. It also alleged that the APC gubernatorial candidate, Sen. Uba Sani, had earmarked billions of naira for vote buying.

But in a statement, yesterday, the secretary of Kaduna APC, Yahaya Pate, urged the general public to disregard such allegations.

According to him, it is impossible to purchase PVCs under the 2022 Electoral Act that only allows voting through bimodal method.

He maintained that APC never inclined itself to vote-buying or purchase of PVCs, as the such idea was against the spirit of the party.

Pate stated: “It is the contention of the PDP, that APC members are sharing N10,000 each to prospective voters after collecting their PVC. This assertion is not only laughable in the extreme but highly preposterous of the individual making such.

“It displays very clearly the total ignorance of the author and those who might, sadly, believe him. Going by the precedents of the current dispensation, the electoral provisions and extant electoral best practices, the notion that any PVC can be collected with N10,000 (or any sum of money for that matter) is completely impractical, ludicrous and dislocation from the electoral laws. It cannot result in any benefit to the collector of such PVCs, if true.”