The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has refuted circulating reports that its officials are involved in selling Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) ahead of the September 21 Governorship Election in Edo State.
INEC dismissed the allegations as baseless and challenged Transparency for Electoral Systems Advocacy (TESA), a civic group, to provide concrete evidence to support its claims.
According to Mr. Rotimi Oyekanmi, Chief Press Secretary to the INEC Chairman, the Commission issues PVCs free of charge exclusively to registered voters and does not engage in their sale.
Oyekanmi noted that such allegations are a recurring tactic used by partisan groups as major elections approach.
He also emphasized that with the introduction of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), it is now virtually impossible for any voter to use someone else’s PVC to cast a vote.
Additionally, Oyekanmi warned that any uncollected PVCs cannot be used by anyone to vote in the Edo State Governorship Election.
He stressed that anyone attempting to do so will be arrested and handed over to law enforcement on Election Day.
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“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.
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