The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has raised alarm over reports that some Nigerians in the North are being paid to surrender their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) ahead of the 2027 general elections.
This was just as the party alleged that the operation was aimed at preventing targeted voters from participating in the elections.
It described the development as an organised attempt to suppress the electorate.
In a statement on Thursday, ADC National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, said the party had received multiple reports of people allegedly paying poor citizens in exchange for their voter cards.
He alleged that people acting in the interest of the ruling party were paying money to poor citizens in exchange for their voter cards.
Abdullahi said the party was already documenting the reports. He added that it was also gathering credible evidence on the individuals behind the operation.
Going by the party’s account, the practice goes beyond the usual vote-buying seen during elections.
“This is not ordinary vote-buying,” Abdullahi said.
He explained that a PVC taken from its owner cannot be used by another person. This is because voters must pass biometric verification before they are accredited on election day.
For that reason, he said, the real aim may be to prevent the targeted citizens from voting at all. He described the practice as organised voter suppression and an attack on the constitutional rights of Nigerians.
Both the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and security agencies were asked to open an immediate investigation into the reports.
Abdullahi also urged them to identify those funding and coordinating the alleged operation. He called for the prosecution of anyone found buying, collecting or unlawfully keeping voters’ cards.
Citizens approached by the alleged buyers were advised to reject the offers.
They were also asked to preserve any evidence and report the matter at once to INEC, the security agencies or the nearest ADC office.
Beyond that, he accused the ruling party of trying to use hardship against the people.
“The same ruling party under whose watch millions of Nigerians have been pushed deeper into poverty must not be allowed to weaponise that poverty against them,” he said.
According to him, those who have failed to earn the confidence of the people should not be allowed to buy their silence.
Nigerians were also warned about the true value of the card in their hands.
“A PVC is not merely a piece of plastic,” Abdullahi said. He described it as the citizen’s voice, power and protection against bad government.
Money offered for a voter card may last only a day, he said, but the consequences of giving it up will last four years.
Civil society organisations, election observers and the media were also called upon to step up public enlightenment on the matter.
Traditional rulers, religious leaders and community associations were asked to join the campaign. In the party’s view, they should help expose any attempt to disenfranchise Nigerians ahead of the 2027 elections.
Abdullahi warned against treating the alleged practice as a minor political offence.
Any coordinated effort to take voting cards from citizens, he said, amounts to an attempt to decide the outcome of the election in advance by choosing who will be allowed to vote.
His statement ended with a direct appeal to voters in the North.
“Keep your PVC, protect your power and use it,” Abdullahi said. He urged them not to allow anyone to turn their present hardship into an electoral advantage.
Neither the All Progressives Congress (APC) nor INEC had responded to the allegation as of the time of this report.
Atiku Abubakar, a former Vice President, is the ADC’s candidate in the presidential election. He will face President Bola Tinubu, with a former Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, as his running mate.
Last week, the party also asked INEC to publish a clear timetable for the production, distribution and collection of PVCs in the North-West. It said registration without access to a PVC amounts to disenfranchisement by another route.
