The Independent National Electoral Commission has said that it has achieved 69.68 per cent distribution of permanent voter cards as of February 10.
The Deputy Director, Voter Education and Publicity, INEC, Nick Dazang, said this in an interview in Abuja on Friday adding that as at February 13, the commission had surpassed 69. 68 per cent distribution. He, however, did not give precise figures.
He said “Since we are speaking of three days ago, that means we have surpassed that bench-mark,” he said.
Mr. Dazang advised politicians to invest their time and resources in positive strategies of winning elections rather than buying Permanent Voter Cards from prospective voters.
He gave the advice following a claim that politicians were buying cards and collecting their numbers.
Mr. Dazang said it was also advisable for politicians to judiciously use their time in other endeavours that would help the political process instead of collecting Voter Identification Number of registered voters.
He said buying people’s PVCs would be of no help as the cards could not be used by another person other than the original owners.
“Politicians should encourage those who have not collected to go and collect their PVCs.
“I don’t know of any implication of collecting people’s VIN numbers; they are just wasting their times.
“If I were them, I would encourage those who have not collected to go and collect their PVCs because even if you collect someone else’s VIN number you cannot recreate his PVC.
“They should stop wasting their time; they should channel their energy towards productive and positive ends,” Mr. Dazang said.
He said there were security numbers in INEC PVCs which would make it impossible for the cards to be cloned or forged.
He also advised people not to sell their PVCs as that would automatically disenfranchise such voters from voting on elections days.
(NAN)
