ALERT! 8 Million People Have Not Collected Their PVCs- INEC Cries Out
Barely five weeks to the start of this year’s general election, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has said about eight million would-be voters are yet to pick up their permanent voter card (PVC).
One of INEC’s National Commissioner, Dr. Mohammed Lecky, disclosed this during an interview with THISDAY on Saturday while reaffirming the commission’s commitment to the prevention of electoral fraud.
Lecky also said the commission had no intention of re-introducing the controversial incidence forms in the February and March elections.
He said, “In fact, the use of the incidence form has been completely abrogated. It is no longer part of INEC’s regulations and guidelines. So, that is the position. There is no re-introduction of the incidence form, contrary to what the media had reported recently.
Regarding the number of PVCs yet to be collected, the INEC national commissioner said, “There is no state in the country where we have achieved 100 per cent distribution of PVC. The distribution of PVC is the biggest headache for us. We need the media to help us encourage the people to come and collect their PVCs. People are not coming forward to pick their PVCs. We have about eight million PVCs yet to be collected by Nigerians.”
The INEC commissioner stated further that in the absence of the incidence form, the electoral body had put measures in place to ensure rigorous authentication of the would-be voter in case the card reader failed to work.
He noted, “It is possible to have a situation whereby the card reader is malfunctioning and we have to resort to manual accreditation. A would-be presenter who presents himself to cast a vote but his fingerprint cannot be authenticated. In that case, his PVC will be sufficient – as it is verified that the card is issued by INEC and that it belongs to the would-be voter.”
Continuing, Lecky said, “We have a voter register at the point of voting in which we verify the name of the would-be voter, his photo and other details. So, if we don’t use incidence form you are removing a cloud of doubt. So we’re responding to that by removing the form.
“At the same time, we are also taking details of voters’ personal information. We have redesigned the register itself. The voter register now has provisions for us to take your details.
“We will take your name, again, we will take your phone number. If we are asking for those details the person may not go forward because he knows we can follow through to know exactly who he is and whether he has come to impersonate or something like that. Such a measure is a deterrent for any perpetration of electoral fraud.”