From Desmond Mgboh, Kano
Anxiety has gripped the members of the political class in Kano State following the arrest of a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, Aminu Ali Shana, with 367 suspected permanent voters cards.
Ali, a chairman of his party in Yautan Arewa ward in Gabasawa Local Government Area of the state, was nabbed on October 14th, 2022 with the suspected cards, an offence which is to have contravened Section 21 and 22 Sub Section 1(a), (b) and (c) of the Electoral Act as amended.
Prior to his arrest, the New Nigeria Peoples Party in the state had raised the alarm that some elements in the state were hoarding/ buying permanent voters cards from voters in areas where they doubt their chances of performing well in the 2023 general elections.
Sanusi Bature, the spokesman of Kano State New Nigeria Peoples Party said in a release that their party’s chairman, Umar Haruna Doguwa, had since directed their legal department to write to the Independent National Electoral Commission and to the police, stressing that they would follow the case to its logical conclusion.
Detectives at the Bompai Police headquarters of the command, however told Saturday Sun that they were looking at all angles.
They disclosed that the suspect, in his statement, had insisted that it was all a set up by rival political interest in the area.
“He said that they were requested to come along with their permanent voters cards for an empowerment program in the area” said the source.
“As you know that at that local level, people sometimes use their PVCs as means of identification, especially as many of the locals do not have any other form of identification,” said the source.
“His statement indicated that he was asked to collect and Photostat these PVCs on behalf of other prospective beneficiaries of the said empowerment program and take to a nearby town where there is a commercial photocopying machine”
Saturday Sun gathered that already the police had dispatched the suspected permanent voter’s cards to the INEC for confirmation, following which all the persons whose faces appeared on these cards might be invited for questioning.
When contacted, Kano State Police spokesman, Abdullahi Haruna Kiyawa told Saturday Sun that the suspect had been taken into their custody and investigation was in progress.