INDICATIONS have emerged that the Edo State Government may have begun the recruitment of members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in all the political wards of the 18 local government areas of the state as Point of Sales (PoS) operators for the sole purposes of vote-buying during the elections.
It was learnt that the strategy is already being tested in some parts of Benin City – the Edo South Senatorial District being the first phase of the pilot scheme while arrangements are being perfected for its transmutation to Edo Central and Edo North Senatorial Districts after the submission of a list of would-be operators from the leaders and candidates contesting under the PDP across the state.
The State Governor, Mr Godwin Obaseki, on Thursday, was reported to have met with officials of the Central Bank of Nigeria and members of the Association of Mobile Money and Bank Agents of Nigeria in the state to strategise on this plot under the disguise that the government was easing the suffering of the people by increasing the PoS operators and mobilizing them near the door steps of citizens.
A statement by the Chairman of the Edo State Media and Publicity Directorate of the All Progressives Congress’ (APC) Presidential Campaign Council (PCC), Mr John Mayaki said he received an intelligence report that the state government was working on a scheme to recruit PoS operators for the purpose of the elections.
The statement according to Mayaki said, “its actualization and implementation plan, the Governor was reported to have appealed to AMMBAN members to collaborate with the state government and CBN, a suspicion that the PDP and its state governors may have struck a deal with the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele and his agents to work against the candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
“Whereas, the PDP, its presidential candidate and its state governors have been hailing President Muhammadu Buhari and the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele over the unpopular policy of Naira redesign and its haphazard implementation not minding the untold hardship the masses are going through in accessing their hard earned money.
“Whereas, the PDP, its presidential candidate and governors on their platforms have gone to court to insist that the policy remains as against the stand of the presidential candidate of the APC and governors under its platform who challenged its implementation at the Supreme Court and called for the understanding of Mr. President to allow both the new and old notes to coexist, so as to ameliorate the suffering of the people.
“Whereas, this same PDP and their cronies have mounted the rostrum to campaign to Nigerians to vote the APC out of government over this policy – a policy implementation they are staunchly supporting, claiming it would curb vote buying. It simply shows the hypocrisy of the PDP, its presidential candidate, Alh. Atiku Abubakar and its governors.
“Whereas, governors under the platform of the PDP have unfettered access to the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, Bank CEOs and Bank Managers across the country – and have the new notes in their custody already and have also perfected alternative means to influencing the people during the elections but it is this same PDP and its governors hailing the President who is in utter contempt of the Supreme Court as a result of his national broadcast on the new naira notes redesign policy.
“We learnt that there’s an ongoing recruitment of PDP members across the political wards of the 18 local government areas of the state as Point of Sales (PoS) operators for the sole purposes of vote-buying during the elections. We understand the governor wants to double PoS operators across the state and that he has a plan. We also understand that the scheme has begun in Benin city under the guise of bringing the new notes closer to the market women and the communities. We are studying the situation very closely to see how they plan to unwholesomely use PoS operators for vote-buying since we understand that that’s their motive”, Mayaki stated.
