Business Day (Nigeria)

2023: We’ve uncovered APC’S digital vote-buying plot - CUPP

...passes vote of confidence on INEC

- By James Kwen, Abuja

THE Conference of united Political Parties of nigeria (CUPP) says it has uncovered plans by the ruling All Progressiv­e Congress (APC) to indulge in digital votebuying, tagged ‘Operation Wire-wire’ in its desperatio­n to win the 2023 general election.

Ikenga ugochinyer­e, the spokespers­on of CUPP, who made the allegation during a press conference in Abuja monday, said the APC designed the scheme immediatel­y after the Central Bank of nigeria (CBN) announced planned naira redesign.

According to ugochinyer­e, bank details of over 10 million voters have been harvested by APC’S agents nationwide, using different platforms. The CUPP spokespers­on said this was a huge threat to the credibilit­y and outcome of the 2023 general election, and also against the provisions of the electoral Act.

“This plot which has now received the approval at the highest level of the APC and its Presidenti­al Campaign Council was also designed in Imo State and exported to 21 other states of the federation requires the party’s agents harvesting names, account numbers and Voters Identifica­tion numbers, Bank Verificati­on numbers of citizens and arranged in tables for each polling unit on the understand­ing that money will be sent to each person by electronic means to purchase their votes.”

He said in Imo and ebonyi States, this plot was being executed under the platform Support Group Coordinati­on, South-east, while in other parts of the region like Abia, enugu and Anambra, it was being executed as All Progressiv­es Congress empowermen­t Form.

“In Katsina State and other parts of the north- West, the plot is being executed under the Citizens Grassroots Farmers Associatio­n, while in ekiti State; they are operating under the ekiti Developmen­t Front (EDF). In the north-central, Operation Wire-wire is being executed under the northcentr­al Women for Tinubu.

“In Cross river State, the details are harvested under the Forum of Tinubu Support Groups. In the rest of the country, the APC is harvesting details using the vote C canvassing form”, ugochinyer­e alleged.

He called on banks and the security agencies to work together by identifyin­g the illegal transactio­ns in the banks and reporting the same to the security agencies for immediate prosecutio­n, saying there are leaked documents regarding that in the possession of the opposition.

“Again we call on the Police, the DSS, and the EFCC to swing into action and arrest the harvesters of these bank details. If security agencies claim they do not know who harvested them, we now tell them to apprehend the persons whose identities are contained in these documents and, from there, get the identities of those they surrendere­d their personal details to,” he said.

ugochinyer­e also alleged that there was yet more troubling intelligen­ce of threats to free and fair elections come 2023, test run in Imo State immediatel­y after the signing into law of the 2022 electoral, code-named ‘Operation Afternoon raid.’

He alleged that in this plot, the ruling party thugs will storm various polling centres and cart away the materials and officers from about 2pm on election day.

“With this, they can allocate all the votes in line with the number of accredited voters already in the BVAS machine to their candidates and upload the same, thereby scoring unmerited votes.

“Security agencies are yet to question any person for the massive rigging of elections in the ngor-okpala constituen­cy election in Imo State, where this was test run. This is part of the considerat­ion the ruling party has resolved to deploy in the South-west region, where they intend to use this method and score at least 95 percent of the votes cast in the South-west.”

 ?? ?? / 5 -XGH ,KHDQDFKR DFWLQJ UHJLVWUDU 1LJHULDQ ,QVWLWXWH RI 0DQDJHPHQW &KDUWHUHG 1,0 (PLO\ 2VXML H[HFXWLYH GLUHFWRU FRUSRUDWH VHUYLFHV 1LJHULD 'HSRVLW ,QVXUDQFH &RUSRUDWLRQ $NLQZXQPL $PERGH IRUPHU JRYHUQRU /DJRV 6WDWH &KULVWLDQD $WDNR DFWLQJ SUHVLGHQW 1,0 DQG 0DWWKHZ $]RML 0' &(2 1HLPHWK 3KDUPDFXHW­LFDOV SOF GXULQJ WKH 1,0 :RUOG 0DQDJHPHQW 'D\ LQ /DJRV
/ 5 -XGH ,KHDQDFKR DFWLQJ UHJLVWUDU 1LJHULDQ ,QVWLWXWH RI 0DQDJHPHQW &KDUWHUHG 1,0 (PLO\ 2VXML H[HFXWLYH GLUHFWRU FRUSRUDWH VHUYLFHV 1LJHULD 'HSRVLW ,QVXUDQFH &RUSRUDWLRQ $NLQZXQPL $PERGH IRUPHU JRYHUQRU /DJRV 6WDWH &KULVWLDQD $WDNR DFWLQJ SUHVLGHQW 1,0 DQG 0DWWKHZ $]RML 0' &(2 1HLPHWK 3KDUPDFXHW­LFDOV SOF GXULQJ WKH 1,0 :RUOG 0DQDJHPHQW 'D\ LQ /DJRV

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from Nigeria