The Hope Democratic Party has taken the Independent National Electoral Commission to court over TraderMoni Scheme being operated by the All Progressives Congress-led Federal Government.
The presidential candidate of Hope Party, Ambrose Owuru, told the News Agency of Nigeria that the party wants the court to punish INEC for allowing the APC to indirectly lobby voters with N10,000 through the TraderMoni Scheme supervised by Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo.
He said the action of Osinbajo through the scheme was ill-timed and should not be allowed to continue.
“We want the court to declare the Federal Government’s TraderMoni Scheme illegal and a breech of Electoral Act because it is a gimmick to financially induce voters ahead of the 2019 general election.
“The court should reprimand INEC for failing to check the act of Osinbajo (Chairman National Economic Council) in openly giving out physical cash of N10,000 to market women.
“The court should determine whether the disguise of TraderMoni during this period of election is not a plan by the APC and Osinbajo to upstage and disrupt Hope Democratic Party’s welfarism and wealth redistribution of N2m grants to Nigerian families to end poverty.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the National Broadcasting Commission and the Newspapers Proprietors Association of Nigeria are also defendants in the suit.
Owuru said NBC and NPAN were joined in the suit for not giving the party and its candidates due coverage of their events.
“This could be targeted at denying the party rights to equal treatment and could deny Nigerians the right to informed choices at the 2019 presidential election,” Owuru added.
No date has been fixed for the matter.
