INEC disagrees with voting without PVCs

With less than 100 days until the elections in 2023, the Independent National Electoral Commission has been asked to allow registered voters to cast their ballots without needing permanent voter cards (PVCs).

This was said by Pat Utomi, a political economist and management expert, on Thursday while participating in a PVC collection advocacy walk to the INEC offices in Abuja.

Since the commission introduced biometric voting, qualified voters merely had to visit the polling places and get scanned in order to cast their ballots, according to Utomi.

The political analyst described the situation as a national emergency that required immediate attention. He claimed that approximately 9.3 million uncollected PVCs were still in INEC offices.

Utomi made the following statement on behalf of The Big Tent, the event's organizer, "Secondly, we want them to recognize that the procedure they have started is a biometric process. Actually, voting does not require a PVC because one has already been captured. One's biometric data is stored in the system. One should be able to claim registration if they show up on election day without a PVC and have their face and fingerprints checked.

“We say it is the duty of INEC to do everything possible to decentralise the collection of PVCs and ensure that everybody who is registered gets their PVCs. We think it is not acceptable for Nigerians to be disenfranchised. If INEC needs help to make sure that the PVCs get to their rightful owners, we are ready to volunteer.”

The Assistant Chief Administrative Officer, Kelechi Maduneme, advised voters to obtain their PVCs after receiving the letter of demand from the group on behalf of the commission. He claimed that it would be an impossible task for the commission to distribute PVCs.

In response, Rotimi Oyekanmi, the Chief Press Secretary to the INEC Chairman, said in a conversation with our correspondent on Thursday that using PVCs to vote is legal.