By Polycarp Auta
Jos – As political parties prepare for the 2019 general elections, the Plateau chapter of the PDP has accused the APC of “buying and destroying the Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs), of prospective voters”.
Mr Amos Gombi, the party’s Deputy Chairman, made the claim at a press conference on Tuesday in Jos.
“Information available to us indicates that the APC is buying PVCs from voters. The voters are paid between N3,000 and N10,000 to surrender the cards.
“Such cards are either destroyed or cloned just to reduce the voting power of Plateau residents,” Gombi alleged.
He alleged that some cards were cloned, while others were either destroyed or rendered inoperable, saying that the situation was “a dangerous plot to subvert the will of the people”.
Gombi advised the ruling party to convince Plateau residents to vote for them instead of “adopting dubious tactics”.
Efforts to contact the APC Chairman, Dabam Letep, and the Publicity Secretary, Chindo Dafat, proved abortive, but Mr Mark Longyen, Special Assistant to Gov. Simon Lalong on Media and Publicity, described the allegation as “false and misleading” .
“The allegation is one of the antics of the PDP aimed at distracting the people from re-electing Lalong in 2019.
“The PDP is merely playing to the gallery and engaging in diversionary tactics to misinform and mislead the public.
“It is the PDP that is planning to buy up PVCs for reasons best known to the party. I challenge them to publish documentary evidence to prove their allegations or simply shut up,” he said.
Longyen advised Plateau residents to disregard such information, declaring that it was built on “total falsehood”.
(NAN)