From Desmond Mgboh, Kano
Anxiety has gripped politicians in Kano following the arrest of Aminu Ali Shana, a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC). He was reportedly caught with 367 suspected permanent voters cards. The man, the chairman of the party in Yautan Arewa ward in Gabasawa Local Government Area of the state, was nabbed on October 14th, 2022 with the alleged cards, an offence that contravenes Section 21 and 22 sub-section 1(a), (b) and (c) of the Electoral Act (amended).
Prior to his arrest, Sanusi Bature, the spokesman for the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), Kano State, had raised the alarm that some politicians were hoarding/buying permanent voters cards from voters in areas where they doubt their chances of performing well in the 2023 general elections.
In a press release, Bature said that his party’s chairman, Umar Haruna Doguwa, had since directed the legal department to write to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the police, to indicate their willingness to follow the case to its logical conclusion. Detectives at the Bompai Police headquarters of the command, told Saturday Sun that they were looking at all angles. They disclosed that the suspect, in his statement, insisted that it was a set-up by rival political interests in the area.
It was gathered that the police had dispatched the suspected permanent voters cards to the INEC for confirmation. After that, all the persons whose faces appeared on the cards might be invited for questioning. Kano State Police spokesman, Abdullahi Haruna Kiyawa, revealed that the suspect had been taken into their custody and investigation was in progress.