The Governor of Ekiti State, Ayo Fayose, has again raised the alarm that over 200,000 Permanent Voter Cards yet to be collected by the electorate in the state are being allegedly sold to people not from Ekiti State and reloaded to rig the forthcoming July 14 poll.
Urging the electorate in Ekiti State to urgently go and collect their PVCs to prevent alleged moves by the opposition to de-enfranchise them, Fayose said he has information from reliable sources that the PVS not yet collected are being sold to people outside Ekiti State to use them during the forthcoming poll.
But the Resident officer of the Independent Electoral Commission in the state has said it was not possible to swap the smart cards for anyone whose name wasn’t registered with it.
Fayose however insisted that it may be possible to swap the PVCs as the cards only validate INEC identity and not the one who owns it.
He said: “What we have found out is that the PVCs are being purchased to give to people not from Ekiti to be part of this poll and they will buy them cleverly and give to people to use on July 14.
“We know politicians, they would use it even if it would not work. We are calling on INEC to nip this in the bud. Uncollected PVCs are about 200,000 in the state and we want INEC to see to it that they are not given to wrong people in Ikere- Ekiti, Ado-Ekiti and along our borders in the state.
“The INEC is starting the advanced smart cards process from Ekiti for the first time, when it is configured , card readers is only to authenticate that it belongs to INEC, not one carrying the PVC.”
“What is important is to us to raise the alarm that INEC ensure that the cards don’t go to wrong hands. Nigerians are smart enough to manipulate things to go their way. So, INEC should not allow anyone to buy the cards from them.”
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