By
Fawaz Adebisi
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has lamented destroyed offices in some states in the country as it said it will no longer be able to constantly replacing lost electoral materials beforr the 2023 polls.
This was stated by INEC Chairman Mahmood Yakubu, on Wednesday, November 30, 2022, in Lagos during an INEC induction retreat for new resident electoral commissioners.
In recent weeks, thousands of permanent voter cards (PVCs), ballot boxes, and other electoral materials were burned at INEC offices in Osun, Ogun, and Ebonyi.
Yakubu emphasized the need to put an end to the attacks and capture those responsible.
He said, “In the last four months, five local government area offices of the commission were attacked by yet unknown persons. Buildings have been destroyed and materials lost in Udenu and Igboeze north local areas of Enugu state, Abeokuta south local government of Ogun state, Ede south local government area of Osun state and, most recently, in Izzi local government area of Ebonyi state.
“In these mindless attacks, a total of 1,993 ballot boxes, 399 voting cubicles, 22 electric power generators, and thousand of uncollected PVCs were, among other materials, destroyed.
“I want to reassure Nigerians that we will recover from these attacks. The lost materials will be replaced, but there is a limit to our ability to keep replacing wantonly destroyed materials with just 86 days to the general election.
“The security agencies, traditional and community leaders, and all well-meaning Nigerians should continue to support the commission to stop the attacks, but the ultimate solution is arrest and prosecution so that vandals and arsonists do not feel that bad behaviour is an acceptable conduct in our country.”
The INEC chairman also responded to a claim made online that people could cast ballots without a voter ID.
He asserted that this claim is untrue and added that in order to cast a ballot, a citizen must be a registered voter who has received a PVC.
“The commission has consistently maintained the policy of “no PVC, no voting”. Nothing has changed. It is a legal requirement and doing otherwise will be a violation of the law,” he said.
“I appeal to Nigerians to ignore any suggestion to the contrary. For the avoidance of doubt, section 47(1) of the Electoral Act 2022 provides 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.
“Therefore, the position of the law is clear. The PVC remains a mandatory requirement for voting during elections.”
