2023:HURIDE ALLEGES PVC BUYING IN EBONYI

REPORTER: CHUKWUBUIKE MADU

A civil right organisation, known as Human Rights Defenders Foundation (HURIDE), has alleged that some residents of Ebonyi State, especially those in the hinterlands, are being lured to submit their Permanent Voter’s Cards (PVCs) in the homes of different chieftains of the All Progressives Congress, (APC).

HURIDE also alleged that the owners of each of the PVCs collected were been promised the sum of ten thousand naira under the guise of empowerment.

In a statement, Ebonyi State Chairman of the Human Rights Defenders Foundation, Comrade Sampson Oko-Nweke, alleged that the criminal practice had been taking place in some communities, especially in Ezza North Local Government Area of the state.

“For instance, in my own Ogboji community of Ezza North LGA, I received calls this morning that the villagers were invited to submit their cards in on Hon D.O Nweze’s compound who is a chieftain of the APC.

“This is a very disturbing situation as it poses serious threats against our democracy and negates prominently the provisions of the Electoral Law 2022,” the statement alleged.

The statement called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the Department of State Services (DSS) and the Nigerian Police Force to promptly unravel those behind the crime, arrest and prosecute them.

Comrade Oko-Nweke also urged INEC, the National Human Rights Commission (#NHRC), the Public Complaints Commission, the Human Rights and Conflict Resolution Centre (#HRCRC), and all Civil Society Organisations to lend their voices to the campaign against election frauds and re-orientate rural dwellers on the dangers of selling their PVCs.