AKSG Press Release: Voters Card-Buying Scam in Akwa Ibom: The Truth of the Matter

By Aniekan Umanah
Hon. Commissioner, Akwa Ibom State Ministry of Information & Social Re-Orientation

AKSG PRESS RELEASE (Posted: February 8, 2011)

The attention of the Akwa Ibom State Government has been drawn to a malicious report circulated in the internet that some agents of the state government were offering a mouth-watering fee of N10, 000 for one card to purchase voters registration card from voters.

Ordinarily since the said online news medium is deficient in integrity and thrive in sensationalism and falsehood, we would not have bothered to dignify them with a response. But since the name of the Akwa Ibom State Resident Electoral Commissioner of the Independent National electoral Commission (INEC), Mrs. Maria Owi was brought into the scam, we owe the public a duty to expose this blatant lie.

It is instructive that the Akwa Ibom State Resident Electoral Commissioner, Mrs Owi, has vehemently denied ever making such grave allegations. It is also revealing that this flimsy allegation has been peddled by the opposition in Akwa Ibom State. Our suspicion is that a dummy may have been sold to the unsuspecting media which swallowed this falsehood hook, line and sinker but had the misfortune of crediting it to a responsible and diligent staff of INEC.

It is on record that while appearing in a recent television programme where he urged Akwa Ibom people to turn out en masse for the voters� registration exercise, Governor Godswill Obot Akpabio had specifically urged the people to keep their voter�s registration card and not to give their cards to anyone.

It is not difficult to see where all these are coming from. The falsehood, propaganda and blackmail would increase in intensity as the election draws nearer but we strongly advise the media to be wary of repeating unfounded and spurious allegations made by desperate politicians.