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From Uchenna Inya, Abakaliki
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ebonyi State, the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the state government are bickering over the alleged procurement of Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) to rig the 2027 general election.
While the PDP accused the APC and the state government of fabricating allegations that its members are engaged in the illegal procurement of Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs), as a pretext to intimidate, harass, arrest and incarcerate its loyal members and officials, the APC and the government described the allegations as baseless and the last kick of a dying horse.
Addressing journalists in Abakaliki, the state capital, Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Darlington Onwe, alleged a calculated plot by the state government and APC to frame, harass and criminalise members of the party in the state.
He stated that, according to information reported to the party, the next phase of the plot involved fabricating allegations that PDP members are engaged in the illegal procurement of Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs), as a pretext to intimidate, harass, arrest and incarcerate its loyal members and officials.
“This latest manoeuvre comes barely months after the Governor publicly vowed to “consume” the PDP and opposition parties in Ebonyi State ahead of the 2027 general election—a statement our Party had already petitioned relevant institutions over and condemned as reckless and unbecoming of a serving Chief Executive sworn to protect, and not persecute, the citizens of the State, including members of opposition parties.
“It is therefore our considered position that this new plot is a desperate response to the Governor’s declining popularity and the PDP’s growing influence across the State, rather than any genuine electoral infraction on the part of our members.
“Our Party is a law-abiding political organisation, and at no time has it contemplated, authorised, or condoned any conduct capable of violating the Electoral Act 2026, the guidelines of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), or any other extant law of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“We therefore reject, in its entirety, any attempt to associate our members with unlawful dealings in PVCs, and we hold that this narrative is being manufactured solely to justify a pre-planned campaign of arrests and intimidation against our party faithful.
“Accordingly, we wish to place on record that the actions being contemplated by the Ebonyi State Government and the ruling APC, if allowed to proceed, would constitute a grave violation of fundamental constitutional rights and international legal conventions.
“Specifically, this planned repression directly assaults the rights to personal liberty, freedom of expression, peaceful assembly, association, and free movement guaranteed under Sections 35, 39, 40, and 41 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended), alongside Section 222 and related provisions of the Constitution and the Electoral Act 2026 governing lawful political activities and due process.
“Furthermore, it breaches Nigeria’s binding international obligations under the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (Articles 6, 9, 10, and 13), the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (Articles 9, 19, 21, 22, and 25), the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Articles 9, 19, and 20), the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights Defenders (1998), and ECOWAS Protocol A/SP1/12/01 on Democracy and Good Governance, which explicitly mandates Member States to safeguard political pluralism and protect opposition parties from state-sponsored persecution.
“Consequently, any attempt to weaponise state security architecture to entrap, arrest, or detain PDP members on manufactured allegations would amount to an assault on these instruments and on the democratic character of the Nigerian State”, he said.
Onwe further alleged that, on a previous occasion, political thugs were mobilised and deployed to breach a PDP event and unleash mayhem on the journalists and pressmen covering it at Ikwuator, Idembia, in Ezza South Local Government Area, during a rally organised to receive a defector, a former APC member, into the PDP.
He said about ten journalists of the Correspondents’ Chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), travelling in a clearly branded vehicle to cover the event, were reportedly set upon by a mob of suspected political thugs, numbering more than fifty and allegedly led by a lawyer, who smashed the vehicle with stones and other objects and searched for fuel to set it ablaze before the driver escaped. At least ten PDP supporters were also injured in the same assault and had to receive hospital treatment.
“The Ebonyi State chapter of the NUJ subsequently condemned the attack as barbaric and demanded that security agencies identify and prosecute those responsible, describing the safety of journalists as critical to the survival of democracy”, Onwe stated.
Reacting to the allegations against the state government, Special Assistant to Governor Francis Nwifuru on Inter-Party Affairs, Comrade Sunday Nwambam, described them as spurious and unfounded and challenged the PDP to back the allegations with facts.
He said Governor Francis Nwifuru is among those who believe that party pluralism should not be sacrificed on the altar of one’s ambition, hence his administration’s resolve and commitment to sustain an enabling environment for all parties to thrive in the state since his assumption of duty.
He averred that the PDP was playing infantile politics and flying a kite with allegations as a prelude to launching a perfected scheme to buy PVCs ahead of the general election.
“While I am still trying to know the faction Prince Darlington represents, let me categorically clarify that the allegation of plotting to frame up, arrest and detain some members of PDP over alleged dealing in Permanent Voters Cards or for any other reasons is false, misleading, baseless and reflective of the last kicks of a dying horse.
“Since the return of democracy in Nigeria in 1999, Democrats have maintained that multi-party system as enshrined in the 1999 Constitution must remain the fulcrum of the nation’s democracy.
“This is to ensure that Nigerians, especially political actors and supporters, are provided with different platforms and structures to pursue their political aspirations unhindered.
“His Excellency, the Executive Governor of Ebonyi State, is among those who believe that party pluralism should not be sacrificed on the altar of one’s ambition, hence his administration’s resolve and commitment to sustain an enabling environment for all parties to thrive in the state since his assumption of duty.
“That is why the people of the state and relevant government agencies alerted in the briefing by the PDP agents should dismiss the purported plan to frame up the party members as the figment of their own imagination.
“Prince Darlington’ Onwe’s factional PDP in Ebonyi State is hereby informed that they are playing infantile politics as they are merely flying a kite with their allegation, perhaps as a prelude to the launch of a perfected scheme to buy PVC ahead of General Election.
“Otherwise, we call on the factional PDP of Prince Darlington Onwe to support their allegations with facts, as it cannot usurp the responsibilities of security agencies to uncover a plot for the arrest of its members.
“The Governor is not averse to the people supporting candidates of their choice as the electorate in Ebonyi State have already seen the infrastructure development drive of Governor Nwifuru and will respond when the time comes”, Nwambam said.
Also reacting to the allegations, the state Chairman of APS, Chief Stanley Okoro Emegha, disclosed that some members of the PDP have been arrested for buying PVCs ahead of the 2027 general election.
“I can tell you that this is a petition for somebody you sent to be buying voters’ cards from people and he was arrested. Those people are still in police custody here now in Abakaliki.
“Why should someone be going from house to house buying voters’ cards from aged women that don’t know? Is that how to win election?
“There is no justifiable reason for you to give me N5,000 and be holding my PVC. Let me have my PVC so that I will have access to vote for whosoever I want.
“People will just come down and then be creating confusion because they want to get money from certain big men, certain rich men”, Emegha said.
