By Dare Akogun
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the ruling All Progressives Congress in Kwara state are engaged in a war of words over alleged voters’ inducement ahead of the Gubernatorial and state Houses of Assembly election in the state.
The Director General of the PDP campaign council in the state, Professor Ali Ahmad, raised the alarm over the alleged transfer of funds from government accounts to voters coupled with subtle threats to political appointees, civil servants, and traditional rulers, added that beneficiaries were told to toe the line or get punished.
Meanwhile, the state government has debunked the allegations, saying that the opposition political party’s lies and shadow-chasing won’t win its people’s trust.
Ali Ahmad at a press conference yesterday said the action of the government is a clear violation of the Electoral Law ( as amended ) which criminalizes 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, to induce such person” person to vote at any election as committed an offense 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 and 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 its 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 program of the administration.
“The social investment program 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 legislation that dated back to 2019, the Kwara State Social Investment Programme has been modeled after the Federal Government’s Social Investment Programme (N-SIP) to tackle poverty and improve social and financial inclusion.
Disbursement from KWASSIP started in 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.
