President Muhammadu Buhari was urged on Sunday by the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) to detain politicians who acquire Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) from underprivileged voters.

Kolawole Oluwadare, the deputy director of SERAP, has issued a statement requesting that the president “urgently direct the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami, SAN, and appropriate anti-corruption agencies to identify and arrest politicians who are allegedly buying permanent voter cards (PVCs) from poor Nigerians and promptly bring them to justice.”

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The rights group also requests that Buhari make sure that any politicians, regardless of their political membership, who are thought to be complicit in what it terms serious electoral and human rights offences are named and shamed.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) recently said that some politicians are buying PVCs from low-income Nigerians all over the country. The group said that the Northern Elders Forum (NEF) agreed with INEC and said that some politicians are buying PVCs in the north for N2,000.

In the statement, it was said that buying PVCs from Nigerians with low incomes is a threat to free and fair elections because it is the same as buying votes, having too much power, or having improper electoral influence.

“The claims that politicians and their backers are purchasing PVC from low-income Nigerians are significant violations of the Nigerian Constitution 1999 [as amended], the Electoral Act, and the nation’s international anti-corruption and human rights duties,” the statement reads.

The ability to vote is essential for exercising other fundamental human rights, but it will be meaningless if politicians and the companies that support them continue to purchase PVC and get away with crimes against the Nigerian people.