Desperate politicians buying PVCs in vain —INEC

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has told ‘desperate politicians’ buying up Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs) to manipulate the 2023 elections that they are engaging in a futile exercise.

INEC’s National Commissioner and Chairman of Information and Voter Education Committee, Festus Okoye, who disclosed this on a Channels Television Political programme on Sunday night, said with 68 days to next year’s general elections, politicians and political parties who resort to buying the PVC are doing so in vain.

Okoye reminded the perpetrators that the Bimodal Voter Registration System (BVAS) will reject biometric data of persons who are not original owners of the traded PVCs.

“Anybody who is purchasing a Permanent Voters Card is just engaging in an exercise in futility,” Okoye said.

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“The only thing any person can do is to make sure the voter does not vote on election day but for you to come to the polling unit on election day with voter’s card belonging to someone else, and you attempt to vote with it, that is an impossibility, the BVAS will not capture your fingerprint,” the INEC Commissioner said.

Meanwhile, the Chief Press Secretary to the INEC Chairman, Rotimi Oyekanmi has debunked conspiracy theories raised in some quarters against INEC on the use of BVAS.

He said the 2023 general election is not about one presidential/governorship candidate, one political party or one region of the country. “No region is more important than the other, and no presidential candidate has any magic wand to win the general election more than the other.

“INEC is not a political party and we are not interested in any candidate. Our job is to provide a level playing field for all contestants and we will do so. We will not be distracted. And whether anybody likes it or not, only the registered voters in Nigeria will determine the winners of all the political offices on offer in the 2023 General election.