How Buhari used Trader Moni to buy votes – Atiku
NEWS DIGEST – The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, presidential candidate in the last presidential election, Atiku Abubakar, has described Trader Moni scheme initiated by President Muhammadu Buhari administration as an illegal and corrupt extra-budgetary spending aimed at vote-buying.
Atiku maintained that the implementation of the Trader Moni initiative by the All Progressives Congress, APC-led Federal Government ahead of the just-concluded general polls was a vote-buying scheme.
Mr Atiku, through his legal team, in a petition filed before the Presidential Election Tribunal challenging the outcome of the February 23 election, accused the present administration of using state’s resources to buy Nigerians up.
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According to him, the scheme was orchestrated to “improperly influence voters” to vote for the present administration.
The petition said: “Buhari, using his position as President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, commenced a programme or a scheme called Trader Moni, through which the Nigerian electorate, most especially traders across the 36 states of the federation and the FCT, Abuja, were, a few weeks to the presidential election, given N10,000 each.
“In spite of the fact that there was no budgetary provision for this scheme; and in spite of public outcry against it, the 2nd respondent (Buhari), through the Vice-President of Nigeria, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, went round all the states of Nigeria and the FCT, Abuja, and shared the said sum of N10,000 to traders, thus using state resources to buy votes.”
