CLAIMS by the National Leader of All Progressive Congress (APC) Bola Tinubu that permanent voter cards (PVCs) issued to Nigerians by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) have expired are not true, the commission has said.
Tinubu had, while addressing the women leaders of the party who paid him a visit in Abuja, asked voters to obtain new PVCs.
The 2023 presidential hopeful claimed that the number of voters had diminished in previous national elections due to the expiration of PVCs.
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“In case they do not announce to you on time, the PVC you have has expired,” he said.
Reacting during a phone interview with The ICIR, INEC Spokesperson Festus Okoye faulted the claims of the former Lagos State governor.
He said that although INEC had discontinued using smart reader machines during the just concluded Anambra election for its new Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), the PVCs issued to Nigerians by the commission were still valid.
He also said that the commission had also integrated voters’ data previously on the smart readers with the new BVAS machines.
“INEC discontinued the use of smart readers machines during the Anambra elections for BVAS,” he said.
“But the commission had succeeded in integrating the data that were previously on the smart reader machines with the BVAS so that voters can easily be recognised by their thumbs.
“Even if the BVAS refuses to recognise a voter through their thumbs, the system can also recognise through scanning the cards. Holders of PVCs can also be recognised when the voter serial number on the back of their cards is inputted into the machine.”
While calling on Nigerians who already have the PVCs not to register again in the ongoing continuous voters’ registration exercise, Okoye warned that it was an offence for an individual to register twice.
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