Victor EzejaTo ensure free fair and credible elections both for upcoming and future ones in Nigeria, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has reiterated that the use of mobile phones and camera devices at polling stations remain banned to prevent vote buying.
INEC chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, Saturday made the disclosure during an interactive session with Nigerian citizens on election, a programme tagged, ‘The Electorate Conversation on Elections in Nigeria.’
The programme which is a hybrid event, was organised by some civil society organisations like Enough Is Enough, Yiaga Africa, Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID), among others.
Join our WhatsApp ChannelYakubu said the commission discovered in previous elections that some voters use mobile phones to snap ballot papers after thumbprinting which they show to party agents as evidence of having voted for a candidate in order to collect money.
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He equally pointed out that some vote buyers hide in a corner at polling stations to monitor voters as they cast vote inside the cubicle and proceed to put the ballot paper in the box to know who they vote for. To forestall this he said the commission has directed that the cubicle be brought closer to ballot box in every polling station.
“We saw another trend before the Sound Governorship Election in 2018 where some guys would carry their smart phones into the cubicles. So they would thumbprint take a snapshot of the ballot paper and then come and drop their ballot paper in the ballot box and later meet the vote buyers to show evidence that they have voted for them.”
The INEC Chairman equally stated that the use of incident forms during elections has been abolished by the Electoral Act, to prevent abuses witnessed during previous elections. He added that the law now provides for the use of only electronic devices for accreditation of voters and transmission of election results.
The INEC boss said the Biometric Voter Authentication System (BIVAS) has voter register, adding that there are a number of ways that can be used to call up the data during accreditation which include use of QR code, Voter Identification Number (VIN) in the PVC and also, surname of voters.
For this reason he said, “The commission has officially abolished the use of incident forms. It is either by biometrics or facial (voter verification). what happens if both fail, the voter will politely be advised to go home.”
He also noted that the commission will in the next few weeks intensify training of ad hoc staff especially on use of the BIVAS technology for better results in the incoming elections.
Victor Ezeja is a passionate journalist with six years of experience writing on economy, politics and energy. He holds a Masters degree in Mass Communication.
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