2023: Buying PVCs won't help you win the election – INEC to politicians

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says politicians who are purchasing Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs) with the intent to manipulate the upcoming general elections do so in futility.

This was made known by Festus Okoye, INEC’s National Commissioner and Chairman of the Information and Voter Education Committee when he appeared on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics programme.

His comment comes after a non-governmental organization, the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, SERAP, had alleged that politicians are buying PVCs from poor voters to manipulate the next elections.

According to Okoye, the Bimodal Voter Registration System (BVAS) will reject biometric data of persons who are not original owners of the traded PVCs.

He described the plan by some desperate politicians who are already harvesting PVCs to rig the next election as an impossibility.

“Anybody who is purchasing a permanent voter card is just engaging in an exercise in futility. 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,” Okoye said.