As the election fever continues to grow colder and harsher on some aspirants, information has emerged that some power brokers in the opposition People’s Democratic Party, PDP, have asked delegates to capture on camera how they voted in what was supposed to be a secret ballot.
The PDP is currently (May 25, 26) conducting its primaries across the federation to pick its candidates for various elective positions in the coming 2023 elections.
While it openly chose the secret ballot system which allows delegates to vote for their choice aspirants privately, the aspirants, particularly governors in PDP states have instructed delegates to use their phones secretly at the poll.
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A verifiable source told Quest Times that because of the ‘heavy investments’ some of the aspirants, particularly governors have made, they wanted to be sure there would be no surprises when the final results are announced.
Already, some aspirants have been left with red faces after spending heavily in dollars on delegates but still couldn’t clinch the party ticket.
Son of former Vice President Namadi Sambo was a victim of such ‘bad investment’ on delegates. Report has it that he asked for a refund in hundreds of millions from the delegates.
Another aspirant in Cross River has also cried for a refund of N21 million given to delegates after losing out in the PDP governorship race.
Also, governorship aspirant in Kaduna and former Senator Shehu Sani of the PDP confirmed via his verified Twitter handle how aspirants were going overboard to recover money given to delegates after losing out.
“A man who has lost the House of reps ticket in Kaduna has recovered over N100million from Delegates this evening using vigilantes and hunters.
“Some aspirants are moving house to house arresting delegates who collected their money and didn’t vote for them.”
But because governors would not want to be captured in this light, they secretly informed delegates to go with their cameras to justify the payment they received.
The Quest Times inside sources said “I have just confirmed that that is the instruction from the paymasters (governors), not an official directive by the party.
“Governors dished out the directive to the delegates, pointing out the direction the voting pattern should take.”