The Independent National Electoral Commission has debunked the rumours making rounds that the commission has given the uncollected permanent voter’s cards to the ruling All Progressives Congress to manipulate the results of 2019 elections.
The Resident Electoral Commissioner in Osun State, Mr Olusegun Agbaje stated this in Osogbo on Wednesday during an interactive session with executives members of Online Media Practitioners Association of Nigeria, Osun State chapter.
Mr Agbaje, who described the statement credited to the presidential candidate of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, Alh Atiku Abubakar as unfounded and far from the truth, also used the opportunity to brief the public on the collection of PVCs so far.
The electoral umpire stated that “no one will have the access to the uncollected PVCs from February 8th, 2019 when the commission will stop the distribution of the cards.
He said that, the commission in Osun State has 427,463 unclaimed PVCs which according to him are mostly those printed before the 2015 general elections.
He added that “the commission registered a total number of 275,783 people between 2016 and 2018 and a total number of 253,154 representing 91.79% have collected their cards.”
Mr Agbaje urged the politicians to always be of good character and stop peddling rumours that are capable of putting the country on fire.
“I want to urge the politicians to stop peddling rumours that are not only disservice to our nation but are also capable of putting our nation on fire. Politicians should verify the information they receive before acting on such.
He also clarified the issue of simultaneous accreditation and voting which has generated lots of debate in the public domain as some politicians are opposed to it.
He said, “in 2015, over two million votes were lost due to the interval between the accreditation and voting. Some went home after the accreditation but did not come back for voting.
“This is what the commission wants to avoid this time around. We have tested it in the last four governorship elections in Edo, Ondo, Ekiti and Osun and it worked perfectly well.”
He commended the efforts of the online journalists for deeming it fit to pay him a courtesy visit and also urged them to adhere strictly to the rules and regulations guiding journalism.
Earlier in his remarks, the Acting Chairman of the OMPAN Osun State, Adesoji Omosebi commended the commission on what it has done so and called for a robust partnership with all stakeholders in the electoral process which include OMPAN.
