TheCable

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says it is aware of the vote-buying tricks politicians are planning to use during the general election.

Speaking on Monday at the presentation of the Voter Register for the election, Mahmood Yakubu, the INEC chairman, said the commission has received credible information about vote-buying.

“In some instances, telephone numbers and details of bank accounts of voters have been collected. By collecting the permanent voter cards (PVCs), their intention may be to deprive the voters of voting since no one can vote without the PVC,” he said.

“By collecting their phone numbers and bank details, the intention is to induce voters by electronic transfer of funds to their accounts since it will be difficult to buy votes at polling units.

“By collecting the voter identification numbers (VINs), they may be acting on the mistaken notion that our system can be hacked into and the Card Readers somehow preloaded ahead of election and compromised.

“We want to reassure Nigerians that we are aware of the new tricks. It is a futile effort.”

He said the commission will alter the configuration of polling units by moving the ballot boxes closer to the voting cubicles, making it difficult for voters to expose their marked ballot papers.

“Secondly, we have introduced a partial ban on the use of mobile phone and other photographic devices by voters while in the voting cubicles,” he said.

“Thirdly, we are introducing the rolling and flattening of ballot papers by voters before casting them into the ballot boxes.”

According to the INEC chairman, 84,004,084 voters have been registered to vote in the elections.

He said smart card readers will be used during the election.

In the case where the biometric authentication failed, he said the voter would be required to thumbprint a box next to his/her picture on the register and to enter his/her mobile telephone number before proceeding to vote.

“Consequently, the separate Incident Form used in previous elections which is only completed by the Presiding Officer without the involvement of the voter is now abolished.”