A magistrate court sitting in Sokoto has sentenced a chieftain of one of the political parties, Nasiru Idris, to one year imprisonment after he was found in possession of 101 Permanent Voter Card (PVCs) in the state.
The court ruled that Idris actions were in total contravention of Sections 117 and 145 of the Electoral Act 2002.
His sentence, which came barely a month after his arrest, was revealed through a statement released by National Commissioner and Chairman for Information and Voter Education, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Festus Okoye, on Sunday.
According to the statement, in one case, the Police has concluded an investigation and handed over the case file to the Commission resulting in the successful prosecution of one Nasiru Idris at a Magistrate Court in Sokoto who was found to be in possession 101 PVCs in contravention of Sections 117 and 145 of the Electoral Act 2002. He has been sentenced to a year in prison”.
Before he was sentenced, the commissioner of police in the state, Hussain Gumel, disclosed that Idris, an indigene of Sabon Birnin local government area, was apprehended following an intelligence report.
The police boss said the suspect could not account for the PVCs in his possession, adding that he envisaged that the owners might not be the same LGA as him.
“On the 10th day of October, 2022, at about 1200hrs, one of the police detachment acted on credible intelligence, painstakingly and arrested one Nasiru Idris ‘M’ of Sabon Birni LGA for being suspected of having in his possession bulk permanent voter cards (PVCs),” Gumel added.