Our Officials Harvesting PVCs Details Not For Rigging, INEC Clarifies
The Independent National Electoral Commission has dismissed reports that some of its officials were planning to rig the 2023 elections through the extraction of Voter Identification Numbers (VINs) from Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs) of prospective voters.
A video had been circulating on social media platforms, showing some INEC staff at FESTAC Town, Amuwo Odofin Local Government Area Office, Lagos extracting VINs from PVCs and entering same into their cellphones.
The makers of the video insinuated that the INEC officials were doing this for the purpose of undermining the 2023 general election.
But INEC National Commissioner and Chairman of, the Information and Voter Education Committee, Festus Okoye, in a statement said such insinuation was far from the truth.
Okoye said although the video shows staff of the Commission harvesting VINs from PVCs, it was just part of an inventory of uncollected cards, provided for in the new guidelines for the management and collection of PVCs, approved by the commission for implementation nationwide.
Okoye said a major threat to the upcoming general election comes from fake news and disinformation
He said: “In its determination to enhance the rate of collection of PVCs, the Commission decided to establish a PVC collection process that includes an online component. The procedure entails that registered voters with access to the Internet could go to a dedicated portal to ascertain whether their PVCs are ready and to find their locations for subsequent collection.
“All they are required to do is to provide their details such as name, date of birth, state of registration or the last six digits of the VINs that they provided/received during registration, to locate their cards. This would improve the PVC collection process, but without prejudice to those who wish to go directly to the collection centres.
“For the newer PVCs, that is those from the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) that took place between January and July 2022, the VINs were harvested automatically and made available online. However, for the older uncollected PVCs that predate the new guidelines, their VINs must be harvested manually and painstakingly for upload to the PVC collection portal (www.voters.inecnigeria.org). The portal will also improve the records of the Commission regarding collected and uncollected PVCs.
Okoye observed that while the Commission appreciates the vigilance of Nigerians and their determination to see the conduct of free, fair, credible and inclusive elections in 2023, it is exceedingly important that information such as that contained in the said video is verified before sharing it with the public.
He appealed to Nigerians to remain conscious of this, even if the prior intention is worthy.
Okoye added:” Finally, we remind Nigerians that all uncollected PVCs will be available for collection at our 774 Local Government offices nationwide from December 12, 2022, to January 5, 2023. From January 6 to January 15, 2023, the cards will be made available for collection at the 8809 Registration Areas/Wards across the country in order to bring them closer to their owners.
“Subsequently, from January 16 to January 22, 2023, collection shall revert to our Local Government offices. Meanwhile, the online facility will be available throughout the exercise to assist registered voters in locating their PVCs for collection.
“We thank Nigerians for their continued support of the work of the Commission.”
