Foreigners arrested with fake PVCs – INEC chair

By Emeka Nze
Abuja

Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) has apprehended some persons found to be in possession of the Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs).
Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, disclosed this yesterday at the flag-off of the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise for the 774 local governments at the Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC), INEC office, Karu.

Yakubu said he received a number of letters containing tens of PVCs, some of which were actually fake, from the Immigration Service.
Although the INEC boss did not give details on the fate of the foreigners arrested for allegedly being in possession of the PVCs, he said the Commission would liaise with security agencies, including the NIS, to curb the menace.
“I received a number of letters containing tens of PVCs, quite a large number, PVCs, some of them are actually fake, from the Nigeria Immigration Service.

“Going forward, we are going to working with security agencies, including the Nigeria Immigration Service by keeping an eye on the process.”
The INEC boss charged the media, the civil society organisations and the political parties, to effectively police the process.
“If there is any person that doesn’t look like a Nigerian try to register, please draw the attention of the security agencies and we will move in swiftly, particularly when we devolve to the ward and polling unit levels because that is where the problem will arise.
“At local government level, the security will be tighter. So the security agencies will continue to do their work and it is our responsibility to assist the process.”

Responding to appeals for the exercise to be extended to wards and polling units, the INEC chairman assured that the commission would make effort to ensure that the exercise trickled to the ward and villages where the majority of the citizens live.
“We have configured the machines, we have tested them, and we have deployed them to the field, we have made adequate provision for consumables.
“We are taking this very seriously. But since we are dealing with technology, it is very difficult to give you very clear-cut guarantee but we have made ample arrangement in case we have to rush for some kind of technical assistance such as replacement of accessories.”

He, however, explained that the cost of embarking on the project would be enormous “as it will take 44,000 ad-hoc staff to cover the 8, 809 wards in the country, while the 600, 000 ad-hoc staff will cover the 120, 000 polling units spread across the country.”
He  also said while the last registration exercise lasted for few months, the current exercise would be all-year round, promising that “we will go down to the level of the wards and down to the polling units.”
“The current exercise, confined to our 774 local government areas, we mobilised over 4, 000 of our own staff. If we are going to devolve this exercise to ward level, and we have 8, 809 wards, on the basis of five staff per ward, we are going to recruit over 44, 000 ad hoc for the exercise. If we are going to devolve it to our 120, 000 polling units, we are going to recruit over 600, 000 ad hoc staff for the exercise.

“And since it is not going to be for a week or two, it is going to be all year round, we need to consider the logistics.”
Earlier, the chairman of the Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC), Abdullahi Candido, and the chairman of the Inter Party Advisory Council (IPAC), Joseph Indiwa, had pledged to support the exercise.
They, however, pleaded with the INEC chairman to ensure that it trickled to the wards and polling units to make it accessible to the majority of citizens in the hinterlands.

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