22,100 PVCs remain uncollected in Ijebu-Ode — INEC

Mr Kayode Olaniyi, INEC Electoral Officer in Ijebu-Ode, disclosed this to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) at the sidelines of its continuous voters education at the Ijebu-Ode Local Government Secretariat.

The exercise was attended by religious and traditional leaders from various backgrounds.

Olaniyi urged registered voters to come for their, adding cards that the commission was encouraged by the level of collection so far.

He said the commission would not allow the collection of PVC’s by proxy, hence the need for registered voters to personally collect them to enable them to vote on election day.

“We urge all registered voters who have not collected their Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs) to pick up their cards.

“For this, INEC has specially arranged for those yet to pick up their cards to do so from Jan. 16 to 21 at the designated centres in their wards.

“After Jan. 21, the collection of cards will revert back to the commission’s local government offices where registered voters can collect them up till Feb. 8.”

Olaniyi re-emphasised the use of the smart card readers for accreditation process as used in the 2015 and subsequent elections.

According to him, the smart card readers will help confirm that the PVC’s are those issued by INEC.

He said cloned or remodified cards would immediately be rejected at the accreditation point.

He said where accreditation failed electronically in unforeseen circumstances, the ad hoc staff presiding over the voting process would immediately adopt the manual accreditation process which is fail proof.

“First of the claim is that the card readers have been enhanced to recapture voters’ fingerprints at the polling units and automatically overwrite the biometric record on our database, this is complete false and should be disregarded.

“We have received credible information that some actors are going about buying PVCs from voters or financially inducing them to surrender the Voter’s Identification Number (VIN) on their cards.

“In some instances, telephone numbers and bank details of voters have been collected with the intention to induce electronic transfer of funds knowing that buying votes at the polling units will be difficult.

“We want to reassure Nigerians we are aware of their new tricks. It’s a futile effort.

“We are also working with security agencies to deal with anyone trying to violate the electoral law, including those trying to compromise the standards of our staff.”

He further emphasised the assurance of INEC to conduct credible polls while urging political, religious and traditional leaders to help solicit for peace before, during and after the elections