The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor 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).
He made this known at a conference organzied by the National Association of Judiciary (NAJUC) on Thursday with the theme: “2023 General Election: Judicial and Sustainability of Nigeria’s Democracy”.
Yakubu who was represented by the Director of ICT in the commission, Lawrence Bayode, expressed concern over the misinformation on the deployment of technology during the election.
He 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.
For clarification, he said Bimodal Voter Registration System (BVAS) is secured 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 noted that the BVAS technology would be deployed to actualize a credible, fair, and hitch-free general election.
Yakubu therefore, 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.