The Osun State Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Olusegun Agbaje, has debunked allegation by the state Peoples Democratic Party that Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is planning to release unclaimed Permanent Voter’s Cards (PVCs) to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to manipulate the September 22 governorship election in the state.
The REC said it was a figment of the imagination of the PDP.
Addressing reporters at the Correspondents’ Chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) in Osogbo, the state capital, Agbaje noted that transferring a PVC belonging to someone else to another person for the purpose of an election would be impossible to use.
In a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Diran Odeyemi, the PDP had urged security agents to monitor the activities of top INEC officials as well as officials of APC to stop the alleged plan to use unclaimed PVCs in next month’s poll.
The statement claimed that some unidentified but influential members of the APC had found accomplices in INEC to release the PVCs.
But the REC said a card belonging to somebody could never work if it is used by another person.
Agbaje said: “It can’t work; it is not possible. PVCs can’t be exchanged between or among voters. If you configure a PVC to be used in a particular polling unit, it can’t work in another polling unit. If you are not the owner of a PVC, it can’t work for you.
“In fact, the Card Reader won’t be able to pick or read it. Also, a card belonging to a male prospective voter can’t be used by a female voter.
“So, it is not possible for INEC to engage in such act. We are a neutral and credible electoral umpire that is ever ready to deliver a free, fair and credible election. So, we can never condescend so low to do such a thing, which is not even possible.”
The REC assured the state that INEC would conduct a credible poll “because the success of the election in Osun State would go a long way in serving as a template for the 2019 general elections”.
