Igini also said the provisions of section 47 of the new Electoral Act are responsible for why stolen PVC are being dumped in different parts of the country
By Kehinde Okeowo
Prominent lawyer and former Resident Electoral Commissioner of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, in Akwa Ibom State, Mike Igini, has assured Nigerians that the 2023 elections will be different from that of the past because electoral malpractice will be brought to its knees.
Igini made the assertion while speaking on Channels Television’s breakfast programme, Sunrise Daily, on Thursday, October 20.
He said INEC is now more prepared for elections after the power of the commission was strengthened by the new Electoral Act.
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Describing the 2023 election as a ” watershed moment” due to its electronic enhancement, the former REC said he has started voter education ahead of the polls.
Igini said: “2023 will mark a watershed in the history of electoral conduct in Nigeria because INEC has developed quite a number of tools unknown to people.
”How many people know that INEC does tracking during elections and as I speak to you, following the signing of the Act on February 25, this year, on the 26th, INEC went to office reversing and changing things to reflect the current Electoral Act. Many politicians are going to have what we call a dinosaur experience in 2023.”
He praised lawmakers for amending Section 40 of the 2002 electoral act and section 49 of the now-repealed 2010 Electoral Act because that was what politicians relied upon to manipulate elections.
“For a period of seventeen years this has been the problem we have been having with section 40 of the 2002 electoral act and section 49 to the effect that when a voter comes to a presiding officer upon being satisfied that he is the true person we should give him a ballot paper, this is what has been used to rig election.
”Section 47 of the Act empowers INEC to use a smart card reader or any other technological device that may be prescribed by the Commission, for the accreditation of voters, to verify, confirm or authenticate the particulars of the intending voter in the manner prescribed by the Commission which was not the case before.
“Today, people must take note of the following, when you get to the polling unit, no more incident form, you can no longer talk about manual accreditation but what we have now is what we call the bimodal process,” he added.
Igini went on to state that provisions of section 47 of the new Electoral Act are responsible for why stolen Permanent Voters Cards (PVC) are being dumped in different parts of the country.
According to him, they can no longer be used for the purpose they were stolen, and users now run the risk of being arrested and prosecuted.
He said: “I am sure recently you have been reading that they are dumping PVCs somewhere. Do you know the reason they are dumping PVCs?
”They are dumping PVCs because of the fact that section 47 has now cured this section 49 which has been used to rig before. So under the current section, all those who have warehoused INEC PVCs cannot use it anymore.”