The Northern Elders Forum (NEF) has raised the alarm over some politicians allegedly taking advantage of vulnerable persons in the North, especially women, to buy their permanent voter cards (PVCs).
The NEFโs Director of Publicity and Advocacy, Dr. Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, made a live appearance on Channels Televisionโs Politics Today on Friday, where he gave more insight into the Forumโs recent findings on the alleged proliferation of vote suppression in the region.
โIt appears that the targeting is real. They target the most vulnerable, which is women. In the North, more women vote than men. More women have an interest in election activities, and on voting days, a lot more women come out to vote. But the economy makes them more vulnerable.
โSo, itโs a targeted, conscious and deliberate effort to reduce each otherโs support. People look at areas where they are strong and where the opposition is strong. And what they do is go into places where particularly the opposition is strong and they buy off PVCs.
โI have to say, itโs not just taking place in the North but a huge part of it is captialising on the poverty, particularly of women, and people are being separated from their voter cards,โ he said.
Baba-Ahmed however stated that the investigation by the Forum did not indict anyone in particular.
โWe were not able to establish a specific partisan bent on this. There are huge numbers of people involved in this,โ he said.
The NEF spokesman denounced the selling of PVCs for a pittance, saying the nation is in need of leadership that can rescue its citizens from the economic and security circumstances.
โIn the North, which is where we did a lot of this investigation, huge numbers of women, especially, are being made to part with their PVCs, some for a little bit of money, N1,000, N2,000, others for some money and a promise that they would be processed for some kind of welfare scheme, and itโs going on on a very large scale, worrying enough for us to say we need to speak up.
โWe understand that some people would rather part with their cards and get N2,000 because thereโs a lot of apathy, anger, and frustration, and people have very low faith that the democratic process will turn around and make their lives more secure, more comfortable economically, give their children hope.
โIn the North, in particular, we have paid a huge price in the last seven years under this administration. Weโre very worried about it because if it is not arrested, potentially a huge number of people clearly, particularly from the North, which is where we did our investigation, are going to be disenfranchised.
โPeople would have gone through the rigours of voting, overcome scepticism, hostility. We knew what we went through convincing northerners to go and register this time so we succeeded.
โThe North has the majority of voters and weโre looking forward to 2023 when every Nigerian would vote, hopefully for a major change and shift in the political situation of the country. And to have people just sitting at home because somebody had bought their cards, they canโt use, according to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
โThe person who has sold the card canโt use it either. Itโs called voter suppression. Weโve seen it somewhere else; we know itโs practised in many other countries using different tactics and strategies but itโs a very worrying
Speaking on punitive action against perpetrators of voter suppression, Baba-Ahmed called on security agencies to uphold the democratic process by arresting and prosecuting those accused.
โINEC is helpless. INEC cannot, on its own, arrest people involved in this practice. So, security agencies need intelligence. If people know this thing is going on, they should tell the police and SSS. And they do have a role.
โIf we know this, and weโre just ordinary civilians โ if we know this and people are telling us this, showing us evidence, showing us women who have had to part with their cards, young people and adults, the obviously security agencies can find out whatโs going on and, for goodnessโ sake, prosecute people.
โLet us see people being prosecuted. These are crimes; under the Electoral Act, itโs a crime to interfere in the electoral process. Voter suppression and vote-buying are the same thing.
โYou take away somebodyโs card and give him money or you go to the polling point and you give somebody money and you tell him, โVote this person,โ right there in front of everybody, those are crimes. People should be arrested,โ he said.
