By Shina Abubakar
Osun State Governor Ademola Adeleke has raised alarm over alleged plot by the opposition party to compromise voters’ register by mopping up Permanent Voters’ Cards across the state, calling on the populace not to release their cards to anyone for pecuniary gains.
The governor, in a statement issued by his spokesperson, Olawale Rasheed, on Thursday, said there is an ongoing coordinated move by the opposition, “to buy up voters’ voting cards and extract PIN numbers from the cards to disenfranchise voters on August 15”.
The state governor noted further that opposition agents are extracting PINs from the voters’ cards by offering monetary rewards. He warned that local governments with huge followership of the Accord Party are targets.
“The plot is to ensure massive dislocation of registered voters from their place of registration such as from one town to the other and thereby making it impossible for such voters to vote on the day of election.
“In some other local governments, the opposition agents insisted on the voters swearing an oath to take inducement to secure the pin numbers or a photocopy of the voters’ cards, charging voters not to fall for an evil plot to deny them their voting rights,” he said.
The governor warned against what he called illegal and anti-democratic activities that are targeted at compromising the voters’ registers, electronically disenfranchising voters and manipulating the outcome of August 15 polls, calling the attention of the electoral commission to the untoward development.
While describing the development as criminal practices and a breach of the provisions of the Electoral Act, he called on the electoral commission to wade into the matter as reports point to “insider collusion” in the APC’s alleged operations.
“I task the electoral body not to look the other way. We have reports of insider collusion which we are still investigating. Any link between the pin numbers on the voter’s card and manipulations of the voting process is a source of concern for us. We trust the electoral body to act.
“My dear people of Osun State, don’t sell your voters’ cards; your cards are your power to vote and elect your leaders on August 15 and beyond. Osun APC wants to stop you from voting. Don’t submit your cards,” the governor stated.
