The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Joash Amupitan, has assured voters in Osun State that recently stolen Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) cannot be used to accredit anyone for the August 15 governorship election, insisting that only the legitimate cardholder can be verified through the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS).
Amupitan gave the assurance on Wednesday at the Osun State Governorship Election Stakeholders’ Forum in Osogbo while reacting to the recent theft of uncollected PVCs from the commission’s offices in Okuku, Odo-Otin Local Government Area, and Ife Central Local Government Area.
“I wish to reassure the electorate and issue a stern warning to perpetrators that stolen PVCs are functionally inert under our system architecture. Without the live biometric verification of the legitimate cardholder on the BVAS, a stolen card cannot accredit anyone to vote. The serial numbers of the stolen cards can be permanently blacklisted on our central server, and law enforcement agencies are closing in on the perpetrators,” he said.
The INEC chairman also said he had directed the commission’s ICT Department to reprint the stolen PVCs and ensure that affected voters would be allowed to use the downloadable PVC during the election.
Amupitan added that the commission had stepped up security arrangements following reports of violence and threats in parts of the state. According to him, INEC is engaging the highest levels of national security leadership and traditional rulers to ensure a peaceful, free and credible election.
Also speaking, the Commissioner of Police, Osun State Command, Ibrahim Gotan, said the police, in collaboration with INEC and other security agencies, had developed comprehensive operational strategies to guarantee the safety of voters, election officials, observers, journalists and electoral materials before, during and after the election.
Gotan said the strategy includes threat assessment, intelligence gathering, deployment of trained personnel to polling units and collation centres, enhanced visibility policing, continuous stakeholder engagement, and the positioning of rapid response teams to respond promptly to emergencies.
He warned that individuals or groups attempting to disrupt the electoral process would be dealt with in accordance with the law, regardless of their status or political affiliation, adding that the command would enforce zero tolerance for vote buying, voter intimidation, ballot box snatching, destruction of electoral materials and other electoral offences.