Ahead of the governorship election in Bayelsa state on 16 November, the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) has accused the ruling Peoples Democratic Party of procuring fake voters’ cards codenamed Biafra cards for the election.
APC further claimed that the cards were being configured to run on 42 stolen INEC card readers.
But the PDP publicity secretary has dismissed the allegation, insisting that the APC was not ready to contest the governorship election.
The APC Deputy National Publicity Secretary, Mr Yekini Nabena, made the allegation about the existence of fake cards, in a statement on Friday.
“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 in Odoni ward eight in Sagbama Local Government Area (LGA) of the state.
He recalled that that during the 2019 Presidential and National Assembly election in the state, only 22 smart card readers out of the 69 stolen by political thugs were retrieved by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
“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,” he said.
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 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.
The Publicity Secretary the PDP, Mr 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 saying it was only making statements to distract the PDP.
“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,” he said.
