Members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State were shocked Saturday as some members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) made attempts to test-run cloned Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) at various centres where the testing of the PVC readers were carried out by the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) in Rivers State.

The attempt by the PDP members Saturday was a confirmation of the very suspicion by the APC that PDP members were up to some sneaky game when they embarked on massive purchase of PVCs from unsuspecting members of the public throughout Rivers State since 2014. Where they could not out rightly buy off the cards, they copied the serial number/PIN.

However, the insidious schemes of the PDP came to light as they sent out their members to take part during Saturday’s mock accreditation. Each and every of the cloned cards were rejected by the machines. Curiously, it was not clear why the officials of INEC did not order for the arrest of those PDP members.

In view of the disastrous failure of the PDP evil agenda, it is expected that the clamour for jettisoning of the PVC in the forthcoming elections will become more virulent and persistent. We believe that the PDP will intensify its campaign with some mushroom political parties to either scuttle the use of the PVC or the election itself.

We call on the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) and security agencies to investigate rejected cards and their owners to unravel what the APC believes to be part of a larger and more intricate scheme by the PDP in Rivers State to rig and subvert the electoral process in 2015. Those found to be part of the plan and their sponsors must be arrested, questioned and, if found culpable, charged to court immediately.

Chris Finebone
State Publicity Secretary