National Commissioner, Independent National Electoral Commission supervising FCT, Niger, Kaduna and Plateau State Professor Anthonia Simbine stated this on Tuesday in Jos, during INEC Interactive Session with Religious Leaders held at Crest Hotel.
According to the commissioner, said the commission will close the collection of Permanent Voters cards on the 8th February, 2019, there will no more collection until after the general elections.
“After January 21, the collection of PVCs will revert to the Commission’s Local Government Offices where registered voters can collect them up till February 8, 2019. While we are encouraged by the level of collection so far, millions of cards are still yet to be collected.
Prof. Simbine also disclose that the Commission will not allow the collection of PVCs by proxy, saying registered voters should endeavour to collect their cards personally without which no person can vote on Election Day.
She urge Voters to also locate their polling units ahead of election day.
She told the Religious Leaders that the mandatory display of registers in all polling units nationwide for claims and objections was done from 6th – 12th November, 2018, and the final register for the 2019 General Elections stands at 84,004,084 voters.
“Here in Plateau, we have a total of 2,480,455 voters, 50.69% (1,257,251) of whom are male and 49.39% (1,223,204) are female. This is the register that was presented to each of the ninety-one political parties on the 7th of January. It is also the same register that will be available at each polling unit nationwide on Election Day”.
“let me re-emphasise the Commission’s policy that the Smart Card Readers will be used for the 2019 General Elections for accreditation of voters. The function of the Smart Card Reader during accreditation is to confirm, verify and authenticate the voter. First, it shall be used to confirm that the PVC is genuine and issued by INEC”.
According to her Cloned cards or cards that do not match the codes for a particular polling unit in which the voter is registered will be rejected by the Card Readers.
The Commissioner als reiterated the assurance of the Commission to deliver credible election come February and March 2019.
Resident Electoral commissioner Plateau State Mallam Hussaini Halilu Pai said the reason for the meeting was as result of the important role the religious leaders play during elections.
Pai said INEC in the state have been working assideously to provide a level playing field for all the parties and candidates that will participate in the 2019 elections.
Chairman Christian Association of Nigeria CAN, Plateau Rev. Soja Bewarang represented by deputy chairman CAN Jos South Rev. David Tyos and JNI Deputy chairman Alhaji Garba Abdulkadir both tasks INEC to be sincere towards conducting free and fair elections, saying INEC officials and the security should avoid vote buying during the elections.
The Religious Leaders also advised INEC to address under age voting, avoid delay on the distribution of election materials to reduce rigging of election.
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