ABOUT 14,000 permanent voters cards (PVCs) have been declared missing by the Independent National Electoral Commission (Inec) in Rivers State leading to fears that they have been stolen to facilitate rigging in next month's polls.

With presidential and state election due to hold on February 14 and 28 respectively, Inec is facing a race against time to get PVCs out to all on Nigeria's registered voters.  Already faced with this problem, large quantities of voters cards have gone missing, which could end up being used to rig elections.

Gesila Khan, the Rivers State resident electoral commissioner, said some of the missing cards were stolen at the local government collection centres where they were kept to be distributed. While appealing to those with the cards to return them, she added that there was no way they could be of use to those holding them illegally.

According to Ms Khan, Inec was going to use a new device called card readers to identify the owners of PVC before they can be used to vote. She added that the number of missing PVCs in Rivers State was the highest in the country.

Ms Khan said: “I am appealing to Rivers people because we have lost a lot of cards. We have lost more than 14,000 PVCs and it’s one of the highest figures in the federation.

"All the cards that are being snatched are useless and meaningless because we are going to use a new system called card readers. Your card readers are just like ATM cards as you take it there and they slot it into the card reader to confirm if it is yours before you are allowed to vote.”

She added that anyone who goes to the polling booth with someone else’s voters’ card will not be able to vote because each card is unique and can only be authenticated by the real owner. According to Ms Khan, the PVC’s are meaningless and of no use to those who have stolen them.

Credit:  Nigerianwatch