By Gift Olivia Samuel, The Sight News
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has again reiterated that any Nigerian without his or her Permanent Voters Card (PVC) will not be allowed to cast their votes in the forthcoming 2023 general election.
The INEC, Chairman Prof Mahmood Yakubu who said this Thursday at the daily media briefing in Abuja, held to provide stakeholders with up-to-date information about the process and preparedness of the Commission, reiterated that the procedure for voting as provided in the Electoral Act 2022, clearly makes the use of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) mandatory, as well as the use of the Permanent Voters’ Card (PVC).
He explained that the ‘NO PVC, NO VOTING’ rule subsists, adding that in the last few months, the Commission made 13,676,907 PVCs available for collection for new voters and applicants for transfer and replacement of lost/damaged cards.
Commenting further, he said, “While we are pleased that the rate of collection is higher than in previous years, there are still, unfortunately, many cards that were not collected”, he said.
Meanwhile, INEC in a document made available to The Sight News, disclosed that of the 93,469,008 registered voters, a total of 83,209,007 PVCs were collected, putting the percentage of PVCs collected at 93.3%, while a total of 6,259,229, which is 6.7% remain uncollected nationwide.
Speaking on the issue of vote buying, Prof. Yakubu noted that it remains a major threat to Nigeria’s democracy, announcing that INEC has worked closely with enforcement agencies to ensure that this is eliminated from the electoral process.
“We are convinced that our joint operations before and on election day will vastly reduce the prospect of voter inducement, which is not only illegal but immoral”, he enthused.
Furthermore, he announced that the ban on the use of mobile phones and photographic devices at the voting cubicles, is still in place,
While noting that some voters have used these devices in previous elections to snap their marked ballot papers for vote transaction, he, however said the citizens are permitted to come to the Polling Units with these devices, as long as they do not take them to the voting cubicles.
“Our arrangement of placing the ballot box near the voting cubicle and away from party agents remains. Our staff have been trained in the administration of the Polling Units and their attention should be drawn to any deviation from that training”, he noted.
Furthermore, he said the Commission has so far accredited 457 national and international media organizations deploying 8,882 journalists, and encouraged them to freely observe and report the election within the remits of the laws and international good practice.
Prof. Yakubu assured Nigerians that INEC is adequately prepared for this election, and remains fully committed to a free, fair and credible process.
