Some young men were on Wednesday arrested over suspicion of buying Permanent Voters Cards, PVC, in Tambuwal Local Government Area of Sokoto State.

A source in the town, who declined to be named for security reasons, informed PREMIUM TIMES that residents of Tambuwal town apprehended Abdu Dankuturu, Amo Masaurari, Dantonka Maikada, Kabiru Modibbo, Dantani Hulkwui and Danbala Gyarge after they were seen buying PVs from some housewives.

“They were paying N2, 000 for each PVC and about 400 cards were found on them upon arrest,” he said.

He also said the arrested youth were handed over to the Divisional Police headquarters in the town.

He added that the Police had in turn transferred them to the State Criminal Investigation Department, CID, in Sokoto, the state capital for further action.

The source said all those arrested were known members of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in the state.

Incidence of PVC buying has heightened in the build up to the general elections billed for February 14 and 28.

The two major parties, PDP and APC have been accusing each other of buying and hoarding the cards in areas they don’t have adequate support in order to deny each other requisite votes.

The ruling APC in Edo recently accused the PDP of buying PVCs at N5, 000 per copy from its supporters. The PDP on the other hand in Abia state accused the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA of buying and cloning PVCs in the state.

The APC in Ekiti state had also last week accused Governor Ayo Fayose of the PDP of buying PVCs from students in his state.

In Ogun state, the campaign office of Governor Ibikunle Amosun had also recently raised the alarm that opposition politicians are buying PVCs from his supporters.

When contacted Thursday, the spokesperson of the police in Sokoto, El-Mustapha Sani said he was not aware of the arrest of the youth in Tambuwal.

He promised to get in touch with relevant officials and get back to PREMIUM TIMES