Arrest politicians buying PVCs, Oshiomhole tells police

Edo State Governor, Adams Oshiomhole, has called on the Nigeria Police and other security agencies in the state to investigate and arrest desperate politicians, who, he said, were buying Permanent Voter Cards from eligible voters in the state.

The governor, who stated this when he received the new Commissioner of Police, Mr. Samuel Adegbuyi, added that such politicians had engaged in the act in order to disenfranchise the voters in the general elections.

‎He said he had heard reports about “some desperate politicians” buying PVC’s from people, particularly villagers, sometimes for as much as N5,000.

“I am trying to understand what anybody can do with this; it is not clear. Somebody called me this morning to say that two persons came to him to complain that they gave them N5,000 in lieu of their PVC, saying they were going to keep it for them and then they destroyed the PVC in their presence.”

Oshiomhole expressed worry that while huge resources had been spent to get eligible voters registered and collect the PVC, “some people want to disenfranchise others by paying them to surrender their PVCs.”

He, however, urged the security to use its constitutional power to rid the state of such acts.

He also assured that his administration would sustain its enlightenment campaign to let the people know “that because these cards are permanent, if you sell it now, you have sold your birthright for the foreseeable future.‎”

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Oshiomhole said, “There is no pretending to the fact that you are assuming duty at a very critical period. Even at that, I think your predecessor and his officers worked so hard and so efficiently that we have not had the kind of crisis which some states have witnessed in the course of electioneering before the recent postponement.

“I believe the Police have been fair in providing security for all those who have stepped forward to market themselves and that has gone a long way in ensuring we have not recorded any negative incident,” he said.

Earlier, the new police commissioner assured the state government and the people of Edo State that the command would continue to work hard towards peace, security and unity of the state, in collaboration with other sister agencies.

He also called for more cooperation from the state government towards a successful fight against crime in the state.