Independent National Electoral Commission has strongly denied allegations

that some of its officials are involved in the sale of Permanent Voter Cards in

Edo State ahead of the September 21 governorship election.

The accusation was made by the civic group, Transparency for Electoral

Systems Advocacy, in a petition dated on August 23, 2024, which claimed that

uncollected PVCs were being sold to politicians in Edo State, while, in

response to these claims, the Chief Press Secretary to the INEC

Chairman, Rotimi Oyekanmi, labelled the allegations as baseless and

challenged TESA to provide concrete evidence to support their assertions.

The development had highlighted that the introduction of the Bimodal Voter

Accreditation System had made it nearly impossible for anyone to use

another person’s PVC to vote and warned that any attempt to do so would

result in arrest and prosecution on election day..

The PVC collection process in Edo State began on August 22 and is scheduled

to continue until September 8, 2024, adding that, the process was still

ongoing, to making claims of uncollected PVCs being sold premature and

unfounded and urged Transparency for Electoral Systems Advocacy and

other concerned individuals to present any concrete evidence of misconduct

by its officials to the commission for immediate action.

Oyekanmi also reiterated that, INEC remained committed to ensuring a free

and fair election in Edo State, stressing that, any allegations of unethical

behavior would be thoroughly investigated.