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| Osinbajo during the election period. |
Vice-President
Yemi Osinbajo has halted his visits to markets nationwide to promote the Trader
Moni scheme, The PUNCH has learnt.
Osinbajo,
it was learnt, has not toured any state to promote Trader Moni in the last one
month.
However,
checks by The PUNCH showed that the programme was still on.
Trader
Moni is an initiative of the Federal Government, through Bank of Industry and
Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme.
The
programme is part of the Federal Government social intervention aimed at
funding micro business in the country through soft loans beginning from N10,
000.
The
programme was launched in August while the Vice-President began his tour in
Osun State on September 3, 2018, barely three weeks to the Osun State
governorship election.
At
the first tour, Osinbajo was accompanied to Iwo Market by the Governor of Osun
State, Rauf Aregbesola; Dep. Governor of Osun State, Mrs Titilayo Laoye-Tomori;
Oluwo of Iwo, Oba Abdulrasheed Akanbi; and other government officials.
The
exercise was immediately branded as voter inducement because of its timing.
The
Vice-President further took the tour to Lagos markets in company with the then
All Progressives Congress governorship candidate, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, Governor
Akinwunmi Ambode, and other APC stalwarts.
He
visited over 20 states thereafter during the countdown to the polls.
Osinbajo
on some occasions combined his tour of markets with door-to-door campaigns
where he met with people and asked them to vote for the APC.
Members
of the opposition, as well as Transparency International, described the
exercise as voter inducement.
The
chairman of the anti-corruption organisation, Awwal Rafsanjani, noted that the
initiative was an “official use of public funds in the name of TraderMoni to
actually induce voters.”
He
added, “It was not done three years ago. It was only started close to election
time. So, the allegation by many Nigerians that this is clearly a case of vote
buying using public funds goes contrary to our constitution and to have a free
and fair election.
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