INEC: Attack on PVC collection centre won’t derail Osun guber poll
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says an attack on one of its permanent voter card (PVCs) collection centres in Osun will not affect the conduct of a free, fair and credible governorship election in the state.
BACKGROUND
On Sunday, gunmen attacked officials of the commission in Odo-Otin LGA of the state.
Abiodun Ojelabi, spokesperson of the state police command, said in a statement that the gunmen made away with three packs of PVCs during the attack.
According to the police spokesperson, 10 suspected thugs stormed the Oyinlola DC Primary School, ward 2, in the Odo-Otin LGA, where INEC officials were distributing PVCs.
STOLEN PVCS CAN’T BE USED TO VOTE, BVAS BLOCKS IMPERSONATION’
Speaking with NAN in Abuja on Monday, Adedayo Oketola, chief press secretary (CPS) to Joash Amupitan, INEC chairman, said the commission’s preparations for the upcoming election “remained firmly” on track despite the attack.
“But I know that cannot distract INEC from carrying out the activities preceding the Osun governorship election,” Oketola said.
“INEC cannot be distracted. We will conduct a free and fair election in Osun. That incident cannot distract us. The election will go on as planned, and we expect it to be free, fair and credible at the end of the day.”
He added that the incident had been formally reported to the police and expressed optimism that the attackers would be apprehended and the stolen PVCs recovered.
“As a commission, we trust that the police will be diligent in their investigation, track those suspects, get them arrested and ensure they face the wrath of the law,” Oketola said.
“We also trust that they’ll be able to recover our devices, including the BVAS that were reportedly carted away.
Oketola said a total of 4,427 bimodal voter accreditation system (BVAS) devices had been configured for the governorship election, including 664 backup units, which could handle any incidents before and during the poll.
He also said INEC had established 97 super registration area centres (Super RACs) and 105 registration area centres across all the LGAs in the state.
“Whatever was carted away will be replaced. Out of the 4,427 BVAS, we have 664 prepared as backups. There is no way whatever happened can disrupt our plans for the election,” Oketola said.
He described the theft of the PVCs as an exercise in futility, noting that BVAS requires strict biometric verification is before a voter can be accredited.
“Nobody can use another person’s PVC to vote in an election in Nigeria again. The era of ghost voters is gone. With BVAS, you must tender your PVC and undergo biometric authentication,” he said.
The technology has been tightened in such a manner that nobody can use another person’s identity to vote any longer in Nigeria.
“Once a voter’s name is already on the voters’ register, and somehow, your PVC happens to be among those that have been reportedly stolen, I want to believe you can’t be disenfranchised from exercising your right or participating in the election, come August 15.
Whatever the commission will do to solve that problem will be done. I know the commission will leave no stone unturned to ensure that no registered voter in Osun is disenfranchised on election day.”