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Africcon Report:Voter card saga: Court remands suspect in prison
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A middle-aged woman, Toyin Adesina, caught with multiple voter cards in Ikirun, last Friday, has been remanded in prison custody by an Osogbo Magistrate’s Court.
The magistrate, Mr. Olusola Aluko, ordered that the suspect be remanded in prison till May 31, 2013.
According to the charge sheet obtained by our correspondent on Friday, some other suspects in the alleged crime were on the run.
Possession of multiple voter cards attracts a jail term of 12 years and, or a fine of N12m.
Adesina, who claimed to be a member of the Osun Peoples Democratic Party, had, in her statement to the police, said the voter cards were owned by members of the party.
She explained that the cards were collected from party members in order to verify their identities for the proposed donation of household items to PDP members across Osun State.
But the Osun State Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme has said that Adesina is not its official, adding that the insinuation that the suspect was working with SURE-P was wrong.
A statement by the Chairman, Osun State Coordination and Implementation Committee of SURE-P, Dr. Bayo Faforiji, on Wednesday, distanced the agency from Adesina and the voter cards saga.
Meanwhile, the Osun PDP has accused the state government of harassment, alleging that it was wrong to charge Adesina to court since “nothing incriminating was found on her.”
Osun PDP Chairman, Alhaji Gani Olaoluwa, in a statement on Wednesday, called on the Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Mohammed Abubakar, to investigate the matter.
Olaoluwa, who absolved Adesina of wrongdoing, explained that PDP National Chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, initiated the donation of household items to PDP members, stressing that voter cards were demanded from members to authenticate their identities.
But the Chairman, Action Congress of Nigeria, Osun State, Mr. Adebiyi Adelowo, faulted the position of Olaoluwa, insisting that the cards were being collected in order to rig the 2014 governorship election in Osun.
Adelowo said, “What is the sense in collecting voter cards for distribution of household items? It is a smokescreen. The PDP should come out and tell Nigerians why voter cards are being collected from members of the public some months to a governorship election in Osun.
“Nigerians want to know the number of states of the federation where the PDP is collecting voter cards. The PDP must not throw the state into chaos. Osun people are peace-loving.”
