by Azubuike Azikiwe
As it stands, Rivers state has recorded the highest number of missing permanent voters card
The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC in Rivers, has declared that about 14,000 PVC’s have been stolen.
Resident Electoral Commissioner in the state, Gesila Khan, disclosed this on Friday, January 30, in Port Harcourt, saying that some of the missing cards were stolen at the local government collection centers where they were kept to be distributed.
She appealed to those with the cards to return them, stressing that they were useless to the thieves. She said the electoral body was going to make use a new device called card readers to identify owners of PVC before they can be used to vote.
“Am appealing to Rivers people because we have lost a lot of cards. We have lost more than 14,000 PVCs and it’s one of the highest figures in the federation. All the cards that are being snatched are useless and meaningless because we are going to use a new system called card readers. Your card readers are just like ATM cards.”
“You take it there and they slot it into the card reader to confirm if it is yours before you are allowed to vote. So, if you go there with another person’s voter’s card, it is meaningless. So, I am advising those of you with other peoples’ cards to return them to the local government offices so that the rightful owners can collect them so that they can participate in the general election.”
“Polling officer will on the presentation of the PVC by an electorate be slotted into the card reader to confirm if it belongs to you. The next stage is the confirmation of your finger prints by the card reader before you are allowed to vote.”
“If you go to the polling booth with someone else’s voters’ card, you would not be able to vote because each card is unique and can only be authenticated by the real owner. The PVC’s are meaningless to those who have stolen them”.
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