Nigerians Decide  in 2023:  No PVC no voting,  insists INEC boss

The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof  Mahmood Yakubu, has once again insisted that no one will be allowed to vote in the forthcoming general election without the Permanent Voters Card (PVC).

Yakubu stated this at a conference organized by the National Association of Judiciary (NAJUC) with the theme: “2023 General Election: Judicial and Sustainability of Nigeria’s Democracy”.

The INEC Chairman  who was been represented by the Director of ICT in the commission, Lawrence Bayode, expressed concern over the misinformation on the deployment of technology during the election.

Yakubu  said, “There is a very disturbing trend which is the misinformation and disinformation on technological deployments by the commission in the social media space and some media houses picking up news bulletins on social media platforms to discuss on their morning shows and political programmes without reaching out to the commission for its stance on such issues.

“One such is the recent viral assumption that PVC is not required to vote on election day.  Let me reiterate the commission’s stance that Section 47 (1) of the Electoral Act 2022 clearly states that;

“A person attending to vote in an election shall present himself with his voter’s card to a presiding officer for accreditation at the polling unit in the constituency in which his name is registered.

“Therefore, the commission is legally bound to only accept the accreditation of a voter on presentation of a valid voter’s card.

“I urge media houses and journalists to always reach out to the commission to avoid spreading misinformation and disinformation obtained from viral social media posts.’

He said that the commission on its part had an active social media presence and would continue to do its best to educate Nigerians and debunk such type of misinformation.

Yakubu pointed out that no provision in the Electoral Act 2022 gave the commission the option to register voters to vote using the digits on the Voter Identification Number (VIN).

He further assured Nigerians gave that the Bimodal Voter Registration System (BVAS) was secured and that the commission had been repelling attacks from hackers.

He said that the BVAS technology would be deployed to actualize a credible, fair, and hitch-free general election.

He said, “As with every aspect of our national lives, adopting technologies into the electoral process is always met with challenges.

“One major challenge was the lack of a clear-cut legal framework supporting the deployment of technology by the commission, especially in the accreditation of voters and the voting process.

“The deployment of the Smart Card Readers in 2015 and its use was faced with various challenges such as resistance to use in some isolated instances, snatching and destruction of devices, attempts to manipulate the use of the devices, and most prominently various judicial pronouncements on the legality of its use.”

The INEC Chairman had on different occasions reiterated the resolve of the commission to organize a free, fair and credible election as well as insisting on the use of PVC by voters on election day.

Yakubu had during a retreat for newly appointed Resident Electoral Commission (RECs), harped on the no PVC, no voting riot act, noted.

In a related development, President Muhammadu Buhari had at different fora expressed the determination of his administration to organize a free, fair, credible and violence-free election.