#NigeriaDecides: Atiku raises fresh rigging allegation

Hours to the presidential election, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar, says Mr. Mohammed Sani Musa, the Managing Director of the firms producing Permanent Voter Cards and the machines used in printing the cards is also the Niger-East senatorial candidate of the All Progressives Congress.

In a statement signed by his Special Assistant on Public Communication, Mr. Phrank Shuaibu, the PDP candidate called on Nigerians and the international community to take note of the fact that Musa is the MD of Act and Activate Technologies, the companies given contracts by the Independent National Electoral Commission.

The PDP candidate noted that Musa had even bragged about being the supplier of PVCs on his LinkedIn profile.

He said a search at the Corporate Affairs Commission showed that Musa is the MD of Act Technologies which supplied the machines used in printing PVCs while Activate Technologies, which is located in the same compound as Act Technologies and has the same directors, does the actual printing of the cards

Atiku noted that both Act and Activate Technologies are sister companies located in the Maitama area of Abuja.

Read also: #NigeriaDecides: Buhari vows nobody will unseat him, says he’s taking Nigeria forward

The statement read in part, “It is public knowledge that Sani Musa, popularly known as Sani 313 is a card-carrying member of the APC and a close associate of several stalwarts of the party, including President Muhammadu Buhari who apparently pushed his nomination.

“Shockingly, the APC senatorial candidate for Zone B of Niger State, Mr. Sani Musa, has a contract with INEC to supply key voting materials in an election he is participating in, which is a clear conflict of interest and raises questions of probity and oversight in the issuing of INEC contracts.”

He said investigations had shown that the INEC contract which included the ‘upgrade’ consisted of pre-programming the card readers to accept fake replica PVCs (copies of genuine PVCs) that the firm printed in Nigeria.

Atiku said these two activities were undertaken so that the APC could boost its vote tally in its strongholds or force votes in Polling Units at PDP strongholds to be null and void by over-voting .

He said an employee of the firm was also caught on camera at the Abuja Airport Domestic Departure Lounge on December 29, 2018 opening an official INEC envelope and then handling multiple ballot forms which he was checking off against his mobile phone.

The PDP Presidential Candidate said while Alhaji Sani Musa has the right to hold any public office in spite of his line of business, it is morally unjustifiable to allow a well-known supplier of sensitive INEC materials to partake in an election in which the key materials to be used for the poll were supplied by him.

The statement added, “It is public knowledge that Sani Musa, popularly known as Sani 313 is a card carrying member of the APC and a close associate of several stalwarts of the party, including President Muhammadu Buhari who apparently pushed his nomination. But shockingly, the APC Senatorial candidate for Zone B of Niger State,Mr. Mohammed Musa, has a contract with INEC to supply key voting materials in an election he is participating in, which is a clear conflict of interest and raises questions of probity and oversight in the issuing of INEC contracts.”

In a related development, it was reported earlier Friday by the INEC REC for Niger State that ballot papers for Niger East and North are missing.

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now