Election materials for 2019 polls cannot be manipulated, says INEC
The Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) Wednesday said electoral process in preparation of the 2019 general elections is robust and beyond manipulation.
“I wish to assure you that our electoral processes have gone beyond the capacity of our own officials to manipulate,” INEC chairman Prof. Mahmoud Yakubu said. He assured Nigerians of security of election materials.
Responding to the speculations, Yakubu said the claims of the Permanent Voter’s Card being manipulated were “ludicrous”, saying the commission has already planned to combat such.
We are aware that as we approach the 2019 elections, there will be a lot of interest in our activities for virtuous& malicious reasons. Few days ago, Nigerians were legitimately outraged by the image of a blank PVC advertised by an offshore Company for purchase in the open market
— INEC Nigeria (@inecnigeria) July 5, 2018
The INEC chairman stated that asides the PVC advert on a Chinese store, alibaba.com, the advert was also on two other online platforms which have been taken down after the commission contacted the websites.
Within a few hours, we contacted the online platform responsible for the advert which promptly removed it. What Nigerians may not know is that it was not a single advertiser. A second company was forced to remove a similar advert and only yesterday a third one was withdrawn.
— INEC Nigeria (@inecnigeria) July 5, 2018
He maintained that the level of security of election materials will make it difficult for the commission’s officials to manipulate.
I wish to assure you that our electoral processes have gone beyond the capacity of our own officials to manipulate. The procedures are robust. The claim that the Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) are cloned and Smart Card Readers pre-loaded is simply ludicrous.
Prof. Mahmood Yakubu
— INEC Nigeria (@inecnigeria) July 5, 2018
Yakubu noted that the card readers have been configured to specific polling units 72 hours or less before an election, only on election day from 8 am and will manually shut down for accreditation after the last person on the queue has voted or automatically by 8 pm.
The Card Readers are only configured to specific polling units 72 hours or less before an election, set to operate only on election day from 8am and is manually shut down for accreditation after the last person on the queue has voted or automatically by 8pm.
Prof. Mahmood Yakubu
— INEC Nigeria (@inecnigeria) July 5, 2018
