Count me out — Obaseki

By Omeiza Ajayi

APC governorship aspirant Chris Ogiemwonyi has asked the Inspector-General of Police, Mr Solomon Arase to arrest a member of the House of Representatives, from Edo North for allegedly buying up the Permanent Voter Cards, PVCs, of some delegates of the All Progressives Congress, APC.

At a news conference in Abuja, Ogiemwonyi who spoke through the Director of Planning, Strategy and Operations of his campaign organization, Akemokue Lukman said at the right time his group would release video evidence to back its claims.

“This news conference has to do with attempts by highly-placed people in government, some of whom are lawmakers to smuggle in a gubernatorial aspirant in as the candidate of the party through the back-door. This, they intend to do by disenfranchising the voters who are scheduled to take part in the forthcoming primaries.

“We are telling the delegates to go back to their wards and LGA chairmen and collect back their PVCs because that is their ticket to vote”, he said.

Accusing lawmakers of becoming lawbreakers, Ogiemwonyi said government officials, including Mr Obaseki were in attendance at the meeting and that his team have video evidence.

He called on the IGP to arrest the lawmaker and get the cards from him, saying the PVC and the party membership cards are what would be used for the party primaries.

Yes, PVCs are allegedly on sale — Gen. Airhiavbere

One of the aspirants of the party, Gen. Charles Airhiavbere who was at the APC national secretariat Monday to submit his nomination form also confirmed that some political elements in the state had been buying up the voter cards.

“That information is very correct. Delegates have been reporting that some members of the public are moving around buying PVCs for N5,000. It has two sides to it. It is a gross abuse of human rights probably because N5, 000 means a lot to a delegate and he sells it for N5, 000 to part with what is his fundamental human right.

“One of the aspirants has even been campaigning that people should not sell their birth right. From Esan yesterday, people called me that they had to chase away some people who came to buy their PVCs. I don’t know what they want to do with it, maybe they want to clone it, but it is very unfortunate”, he said.

INEC PVCs

It’s a waste of time -Odubu

In his reaction, one of the aspirants and Deputy Governor of the state, Pius Odubu said anyone engaged in buying of voter cards is only embarking on a wasteful exercise.

“I arrived Abuja yesterday (Sunday) and I have heard that allegation too but I cannot confirm whether it is true or not because I am not in Edo State at the moment. In any case, if anybody does that, it is just a wasteful exercise because there are other forms of identification beside the PVCs. What you need is to properly identify yourself at the polling units through the voters register. So anybody buying up PVCs does not believe in the tenets of democracy. This is participatory democracy and everybody must be allowed to make his choice. I condemn the act in its entirety and I want to urge anyone doing that to stop it”, he said.

On whether he was aware that the incumbent governor, Adams Oshiomhole has endorsed one of the aspirants to be the party’s flag bearer, Odubu said “I know my boss, if he had anointed anybody, he would not be afraid to say so publicly, to the extent he has not said so publicly, that is in the realm of rumour and  I will urge you to take it as such.

Odubu also dismissed insinuations of a frosty relationship with Gov. Adams Oshiomhole, saying there is no such thing as he enjoys a very cordial relationship with his boss.

It’s not me — Obaseki

Meanwhile, the man at the centre of the allegations, Godwin Obaseki has denied sponsoring anyone to help him buy up voter cards.

Obaseki who was flanked by Shuaibu and other federal and state lawmakers from the state spoke Monday when he visited the party’s national secretariat in Abuja to submit his nomination form.

He said; “ I am not sure Ogiemwonyi would have made that statement. He is too responsible for that. I was in Auchi yesterday (Sunday) where Hon. Phillip Shuaibu hosted over 400 delegates from Etsako. We were all seated with them and they had their voter’s  cards. This is what we try to discourage in campaigns. The campaigns must be truthful and people must be focused on issues,” Obaseki said.