The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has dismissed the report circulating that its staff were engaged in the sale of Permanent Voter Cards, PVCs, in preparation for the September 21 Governorship Election in Edo State.
INEC characterized the accusation as untrue and called upon the civic organization, Transparency for Electoral Systems Advocacy, TESA, to present solid proof against Electoral Officers to substantiate their claim of PVC sales in Edo.
The statement was issued by the Chief Press Secretary to the INEC Chairman, Mr Rotimi Oyekanmi, in reaction to the allegation.
He said the Commission does not sell but issues PVCs free of charge to only registered voters.
According to him, the allegation followed the pattern of similar narratives leveled against the Commission by partisan groups whenever off-cycle governorship or major elections are about to be conducted.
He added that with the introduction of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System BVAS, it has become practically impossible for any voter to use another person’s PVC to vote.
Oyekanmi further stated that any uncollected PVC cannot be used by anyone to vote during the Edo State Governorship Election, stressing that any person who attempts to do so will be arrested and handed over to law enforcement agents on Election Day.
“Besides, the PVC collection process only began in 192 Wards in the State on Thursday 22nd August and will end today Monday 26th August. Thereafter, collection of PVCs will move our 18 Local Government Offices from 28th August to 8th September 2024.
“Therefore, the notion of ‘uncollected PVCs’ cannot suffice when, in fact, the collection process has just started.
“However, we encourage TESA and other individuals with concrete evidence of unethical acts against any of our Electoral Officers to promptly avail the Commission of the evidence for immediate action,” Oyekanmi added.
