The All Progressives Congress says it has uncovered fake Permanent Voters’ Cards allegedly manufactured in large scale by the Peoples Democratic Party ahead of the November 16, 2019 Bayelsa State governorship election.
In a statement signed by its Deputy National Publicity Secretary, Yekini Nabena, in Abuja on Friday, the APC alleged that the fake PVCs have been code-named: “Biafra Cards,” by the PDP.
According to Nabena, the Bayelsa State chapter of the PDP has begun large scale manufacturing of fake PVCs.
He said: “We are receiving real time reports that the PDP-led government in the state is manufacturing fake Permanent Voters Cards (PVC) code-named ‘Biafra cards’ at the Government House.”
The APC chieftain alleged that some of the manufactured fake PVCs were deposited at the residence of the Deputy Chief of Staff to the State Governor, Seriake Dickson, in Odoni Ward 8 in Sagbama Local Government Area of the state.
He recalled that during the 2019 Presidential and National Assembly elections in the state, only 22 smart card readers out of the 69 stolen by political thugs were retrieved by the Independent National Electoral Commission.
Nabena said: “The PDP-led government in Bayelsa is planning to configure the 47 smart card readers still in its possession with the fake PVCs which PDP is currently mass producing.
“I call on our security and intelligence agencies to urgently carry out strategic raids to stop PDP’s illegal operations, retrieve the smart card readers and mop up the fake PVCs which the party has code-named ‘Biafra cards.’”
Nabena called on President Muhammadu Buhari to direct security, anti-corruption and other relevant agencies to intervene to ensure hitch-free election in the state.
He urged the electorate to resist alleged plots by the PDP-led government to foist a governorship candidate on Bayelsans through rigging, vote-buying and violence.
The APC chieftain called on INEC to rise up to the occasion and ensure free, fair and credible poll.
Reacting, the state Publicity Secretary the PDP, Mackbere Osom, dismissed the allegation, urging the public to disregard it, insisting that the APC was not ready to contest the governorship election.
Osom said APC had shown clearly that it was not ready by boycotting the governorship debate, adding that it was only making statements to distract the PDP.
He said: “Ask the APC why are they not campaigning? PDP is busy campaigning to Bayelsans but APC wants to rely on ‘federal might.’ We are waiting for them. Is it PDP or INEC that has responsibility of producing PVCs? Let them go and campaign.
“APC had an opportunity to present its programmes to Bayelsans during the governorship debate but because they have a candidate who is not ready, he ran away. PDP has been winning election since 1999 and we don’t need to produce PVCs to defeat APC.”
