A couple of traders in Nigeria’s commercial capital city of Lagos, have told Quest Times that leaders of their various markets have ordered them to submit photocopies of their Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs) or have their shops locked up or seized.
“The market leaders are mostly supporters of APC Presidential candidate Bola Tinubu.
“In our market in Boundary, Ajegunle, for instance, they have threatened to lock-up our shops if we don’t submit the back and front of photocopies of our PVCs to them by next week,” one Igbo trader in the Boundary area of Lagos, tells Quest Times on condition of anonymity.
“They have been ringing bells to make the announcement round the market. They say we must submit photocopies of our PVCs to the Baba Oja,” she adds.
Another trader in the market shares a similar tale.
Other traders in at least two other markets in the mainland and Island areas of Lagos, have relayed similar directives to Quest Times.
The Ìyál’ọ́jà (Mother of Markets) in Lagos is Chief Mrs Folashade Tinubu Ojo, a daughter of frontline presidential candidate, Tinubu.
When Quest Times put a phone call across to the Baba Oja of Boundary market in Ajegunle (Ajeromi-Ifelodun LGA), to ascertain why he was asking market women/men to submit photocopies of their PVCs or lose their shops, he abruptly hung up after hurling insults on our reporter, and refused to pick up subsequent calls.
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It would be recalled that in January, while addressing a delegation of women from Lagos at the APC Women Conference in Abuja, Tinubu asked them to check the statuses of their PVCs to see if their cards had expired.
“In case they do not announce to you on time, the PVC you have has expired. Take one family member, two family members, knock on all doors and make sure that the new registration… Because they may not announce to you on time. The PVCs you have has expired. Yes!,” Tinubu blared.
Tinubu’s remarks elicited a stern rebuke from electoral umpire, INEC, at the time.
“The Permanent Voter’s Card (PVC) issued by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) does not expire,” the Media Adviser/Chief Press Secretary to the INEC Chairman, Rotimi Oyekanmi, told Quest Times at the time.
Last month, Musiliu Akinsanya, Chairman, Lagos State Park and Garages Management Committee, popularly called MC Oluomo, who is an avid supporter of Tinubu, denied that he had authorised the controversial sales of stickers bearing images of himself; Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu and Tinubu; to tricycle (aka Keke) drivers.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) lifted the ban on political campaigns on September 28, 2022; and candidates have been criss-crossing the landscape and exploring all tricks in the book to get (undecided) voters on their sides ahead of the 2023 elections.