…….. allegations are lamentations of a failed party – Kwara Govt
By Dare Akogun
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Kwara state chapter has raised the alarm over the alleged transfer of funds from government accounts to voters towards inducing them ahead of the March 18 governorship/state House of Assembly elections.
Speaking with journalists in Ilorin yesterday, the Director General of the PDP campaign council in the state, Professor Ali Ahmad, also alleged that the voter’s inducement was coupled with subtle threats to political appointees, civil servants, and traditional rulers, added that beneficiaries were told to toe the line or get punished.
Ali Ahmad said the action of the government is a clear violation of the Electoral Law ( as amended ) which criminalize any form of vote buying by an individual, group or government on behalf of a candidate in an election.
According to him “To avoid doubt, the Electoral Act has criminalized this old practice of voter inducement. It provides in Section 121 that whoever, directly or indirectly by himself or on his behalf, “corruptly makes any gift, loan, offer, promise, procurement or agreement to or for any person, in order to induce such person” person to vote at any election as committed an offence liable on conviction to 12 months imprisonment.
“We have correct and factual information about how political office holders, private individuals outside government, influential people in our society, and even bureaucrats receive huge money from government accounts and these individuals then either retain the money as their own to buy their support while some others are charged with paying a huge part of the money in tranches of N20,000, N30, 000 and N10,000 to ordinary voters.
“We want these people involved in this scam to know that what they are doing amounts to diverting Kwara State government money to fund political and partisan activities. They should know that their backside is in the open when they hide. All the things they are doing are being tracked.
“What these unscrupulous individuals are doing constitutes the greatest danger to our democracy. They are undermining democracy, polluting the political process, corrupting the system, and rigging the votes. They are all threats to democracy and the people should see them in this light.”
Prof Ali Ahmad however said the campaign council had directed its legal department to write the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and other anti-corruption agencies over the development.
The PDP, however appealed to people in the state to take the token they were being given, advised them to vote for the PDP and its governorship candidate, Alhaji Shuaib Yaman Abdullahi, in the March 18 governorship elections.
Meanwhile the state government has debunked the allegations, saying that the opposition political party’s lies and shadow-chasing won’t win it people’s trust.
In a statement by the state commissioner for Finance and the spokesperson of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Campaign Council in the state, Mrs.Olasumbo Florence Oyeyemi, said there was no truth to the claims of the PDP, adding that the party was notorious among people for its reckless claims and penchant for outright falsehood.
“There is no truth whatsoever to the claims of the ever-lying PDP. The party is notorious among our people for its reckless claims and penchant for outright falsehood.
“Its latest claims are true to type and especially hypocritical of a political party that sought to buy people’s conscience with fake dollars, ” she said.
She said it is laughable that the PDP is hinging its crushing defeat on the popular pro-masses social investment programme of the administration.
“The social investment programme is just as old as the administration itself, having started in 2020. People can testify to the transparent nature of these interventions, which are usually done through electronic transfers to avoid any sharp practices that were rampant under the PDP.
“We have no apologies for being transparent.
Backed by a legislation that dated back to 2019, the Kwara State Social Investment Programme has been modelled after the Federal Government’s Social Investment Programme (N-SIP) to tackle poverty and improve social and financial inclusion.
Disbursement from KWASSIP started from started from April 2020 to okada riders and then to petty traders in September 2020. This intervention has continued ever since, including the Kwapreneur.
These initiatives have had tremendous impacts on the local economy. It is an ongoing initiative. Now, is the PDP also calling the N-SIP a vote-buying initiative? The allegations are just lamentations of a failed party,” she said.
