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Burnt PVCs Will be Replaced – Igini

A former Akwa Ibom State Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Mike Igini, has said non-state actors can’t stop the 2023 general elections from holding.

Igini stated this during his appearance on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily. His comment follows attacks on INEC offices across the country. He noted that the attacks on the offices of the electoral umpire are attacks on democracy.  

“I am very concerned about the attacks on INEC offices across the country, particularly in the areas that have been identified.”

Additionally, he stated that all Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs) that were set on fire by vandals during attacks on the electoral commission’s offices would be replaced.

There has been an increase in attacks on INEC offices recently; only in November were three or more instances reported. Hoodlums ransacked two of its offices in Ogun and Osun, destroying 65,699 uncollected PVCs, while another attack in the state of Ebonyi resulted in the burning of many PVCs and other electoral supplies.

Nevertheless, Igini noted that INEC has the information of all PVCs at state and national offices, and it won’t take days to reproduce them.

“INEC can respond to these challenges, particularly concerning the PVCs that have been burnt. INEC has the number of all the PVCs. In a matter of days, INEC will produce those PVCs,” he said.

In order to participate in the upcoming general election, he advised Nigerians not to lose hope and to collect their PVCs.

The previous REC also bemoaned security agencies’ inability to apprehend those responsible for violent assaults on INEC headquarters.

“Why should extra-constitutional actors why should non-legitimise actors continue to attack INEC. It is an attack on democracy. My pain is that we have not been able to track anybody.

“It is a big challenge to all security agencies in this country that for these years, we have been unable to track those who attack our democracy.

“Look at what happened in the US, all those who attacked Capitol Hill have been brought to book every day but here we are in a state of anomie,” Igini stressed.

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