INEC will burn unclaimed cards before 2019 elections

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) will be compelled to burn unclaimed Permanent Voters Cards (PVC) across the country before the 2019 general elections to prevent electoral manipulations.

This was disclosed by the Resident Electoral Officer (REC) in Ondo State, Dr Rufus Akeju, who advised Nigerians to go to INEC offices to claim their PVCs before the elections next year.

While speaking to journalists in Akure on Monday, March 12, 2018, Dr Akeju said the commission is making relentless efforts to contact affected Nigerians to claim their voter's card.

He revealed that if the cards remain unclaimed, the commission will be compelled to burn the cards to prevent unscrupulous elements from using them to commit electoral fraud.

Dr Akeju also expressed how worrisome it is to discover that there are hundreds of thousands of unclaimed PVCs in Ondo State alone.

He said, "Out of 1,659,186 registered voters in Ondo State, only 1,288,722 people have collected the PVCs while the remaining 370,464 have their voters' cards uncollected."

Even though he never revealed how close to the election the cards will have to be burnt, he said the burning process "would be made open for all Nigerians to witness."

Dr Akeju also noted that INEC will investigate the reasons for the high number of unclaimed PVCs around the country.

While explaining the commission's efforts towards conducting free, fair and credible elections in 2019, he said additional card readers have been provided "in case one is malfunctioning in a particular unit."