Election 2019: Trader Moni wasn't used to buy votes, says Osinbajo
- The criticisms against the Trader Moni initiative of the federal government continues unabated
- Many had criticized the scheme as an advanced form of vote buying before the 2019 elections
- Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo insists the scheme is not any form of vote buying
Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo has again dismissed repeated insinuations suggesting the Trader Moni scheme is a form of vote buying.
Osinbajo said this through Laolu Akande, his spokesperson, in response to Odilim Enweagbara, an economist and entrepreneur, who insisted the scheme was to curry support from Nigerians for the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) towards the 2019 general election.
The vice president noted that the scheme was geared towards empowering over 30 million Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) with interest-free, collateral-free loans.
Enweagbara had stressed that the scheme investigated and disbursements audited to expose perceived plundering of the public tilt by the APC under the guise of empowerment.
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Enweagbara said: “That fraud called Trader Moni must be independently investigated. Trader Moni was the newest form of vote buying and inducement of voters to vote for APC.
“That was why it was done a few months to the 2019 general election and has since been stopped because the objective has since been achieved.”
Responding, Akande said: “The Trader Moni scheme is one of the Government, Enterprise and Empowerment Programme (GEEP) micro-credit products.
“MarketMoni and FarmerMoni are still very much in operation. We have a target of 30,000 minimum beneficiaries per state, and we have achieved this in majority of the 36 states and Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
“What the team has been doing is generating the balance of programme funding and ramping up on the states where we have a shortage.”
Meanwhile, the Delta Coalition for Ogboru has accused a politician of allegedly giving out Banga rice at various polling units in Delta Central senatorial district to swing votes in favour of Governor Ifeanyi Okowa during the just concluded governorship election in the state.
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Chairman of the group, Mr Fabian Ohwotife and the secretary, Mr Blackman Idogho called for outright cancellation of the governorship election result declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Delta state.
They also called for the arrest of the politician who allegedly distributed the meal during the election by security operatives.
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