INEC slams Tinubu, says PVCs remain valid

Nigeria’s Independent National Electoral Commission has countered a claim by a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, that Permanent Voters’ Cards have expired, Top Naija reports.

Tinubu, who was Lagos State Governor from 1999 to 2007, had made the claim while addressing women leaders of the APC who paid him a visit in Abuja, on Tuesday.

The former governor of Lagos State also lamented that there had been a decline in the number of eligible voters in recent times.

Reacting, Chief Technical Adviser to the Chairman of INEC, Prof Bolade Eyinla, stated that PVCs previously registered remain valid.

This is as he advised those who already have PVCs not to bother about registering for another one.

“This information is not correct. The PVC issued to all previously registered voters remains valid. This kind of statement will certainly push eligible voters to register more than once thereby creating the problem of double and multiple registrations,” he said as quoted by Daily Trust.

Buttressing Eyinla’s point, Chief Press Secretary to the INEC Chairman, Mr Rotimi Lawrence Oyekanmi, pointed out that registering for PVC more than once is an offence under the law.

“In fact, double registration is an offence under our laws. Eligible Nigerians are entitled to register only once. Once a name appears on the National Register of Voters, it stays there permanently.

“One of the very few instances where a name could be removed from the register is if there’s a strong and verifiable proof that the person bearing the name has died,” Oyekanmi said.

In January 2009, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission cleared Tinubu and governors James Ibori of Delta State and Obong Victor Attah of Akwa Ibom State of charges of conspiracy, money laundering, abuse of office and official corruption in relation to a sale of V-mobile network shares in 2004. In March 2009, there were reports that a plot had been identified to kill Tinubu.