By Kamsi Anayo
The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof Mahmood Yakubu, has insisted that no eligible voter in Nigeria will be allowed to cast vote in the forthcoming general elections without a Permanent Voter Card (PVC).
This was as he assured Nigerians that the Bimodal Voter Registration System (BVAS) is highly secured, intact and cannot be compromised or hacked into by overzealous persons.
Fielding questions from participants after presenting a paper on “INEC and the Challenges of ICT- The way forward” at the annual conference of the National Association of Judiciary Correspondent, Abuja, Yakubu insisted that technology will be deployed to actualize a credible, fair and hitch-free general elections.
“As with every aspect of our national lives, adopting technologies into the electoral process is always met with challenges. One major challenge was the lack of a clear-cut legal framework supporting the deployment of technology by the Commission, especially in the accreditation of voters and the voting process.
“The deployment of the Smart Card Readers in 2015 and its use was faced with various challenges such as resistance to use in some isolated instances, snatching and destruction of devices, attempts to manipulate the use of the devices, and most prominently various judicial pronouncements on the legality of its use”, Yakubu said.
Represented by Dr Lawrence Bayode, Director ICT of INEC, Yakubu said, “Another very disturbing trend is the misinformation and disinformation on technological deployments by the Commission in the social media space and some media houses picking up news bulletins from 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 of such is the recent viral assumptions 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 intending 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”.
He insisted that the Commission is legally bound to only accept the accreditation of a voter on presentation of a valid voter’s card.
In his speech, the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN) said, President Muhammadu Buhari-led Administration is committed to a fair, credible and violence-free electoral process in the country.
This, he said was evident in President’s recent assent to the Electoral Act, 2022 which has been applauded by many patriotic citizens, pundits and international community.
One of the major highlights of the new Electoral Act he noted, is the legal backing provided for NEC to deploy technology among many other commendable initiatives to bequeath posterity, a legacy of viable democratization tools.
He pointed out that, the new Electoral Act is an improvement on the repealed electoral law in many ways even as he said that the
Citizens have vital roles to play in the democratic process and must shun all vices that are capable of undermining the progress that have been recorded so far.
Emmanuel Owah, Assistant Research Fellow, National Judicial Institute (NJI), Abuja, presented a paper on “The Role of Civil Society Organizations in Election Management and Agenda Setting”.
Similarly, there was a Paper presentation on “The Role of the Media in Election Reportage” by Adebimpe Elizabeth Olorunfemi, Assistant Research Fellow, National Judicial Institute, Abuja.
