2023: INEC vows to prosecute voters card buyers, sellers

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) warned that anyone caught buying or selling PVCs would be arrested and prosecuted.

The electoral commission said it would not condone such practice from any politician or political party in the forthcoming general election.

The Nigeria Police Force also has announced its readiness to work with the commission to crack down on anyone trading voter’s cards.

“PCVs have never been displayed on any table in the market for sales…we will work with INEC to track down these perpetrators since INEC has more information about the development,” the Force Public Relations Officer, Olumuyiwa Adejobi said.

This is coming following reports that some politicians were buying up PVCs and inducing voters to harvest their Voter Identification Numbers.

Recall that the INEC commissioner that oversees Abuja, Kaduna, Plateau and Nasarawa state, Mohammed Haruna recently raised the alarm that politicians were buying PVCs ahead of the 2023 election.

However, the Chief Press Secretary to the Chairman of INEC, Rotimi Oyekanmi has warned that the 2023 election won’t be business as usual.

In his interview with ThePunch, Oyekanmi said the introduction of the Bimodal Voters Accreditation System (BVAS) will not allow for rigging and other electoral malpractices.

He advised supporters of the competing presidential candidates to spend their time to convince and mobilise to vote for their respective candidates rather than the reputation of the commission.

He said, “Supporters of the competing presidential candidates for the 2023 general elections will help their respective candidates better if they spend the next two months before the polls to rigorously convince and mobilise registered voters across the length and breadth of Nigeria to vote for their preferred candidates than to continue smearing the reputation of the Independent National Electoral Commission with baseless conspiracy theories. It will not work.

“The commission is not a political party; INEC does not have a preferred candidate. We have been preparing for the 2023 polls since the conclusion of the 2019 general elections, perfecting existing tools and introducing other innovations. These innovations are designed to ensure the integrity of the process and make it impossible for any politician or INEC Staff to compromise an election in favour of any candidate.

“Therefore, the insinuation that some politicians are buying Permanent Voter Cards to rig the 2023 general election is baseless because INEC has moved very far away from the period when the Incident Form could be used for that purpose on election day.’’

He explained that the INEC introduced the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System for the 2023 general election to eliminate the use of the incident form and prevent impersonation on election days.