Nasiru Idris has been sentenced to one year in prison by a magistrate court in Sokoto, Nigeria, after being caught with 101 Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs), a violation of Sections 117 and 145 of the Electoral Act of 2002.
Barr. Festus Okoye, National Commissioner in Charge of the Information and Voter Education Committee at the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC, announced this in a statement issued on Sunday in Abuja.
INEC further stated that it has begun the prosecution of another man who was found in possession of 367 PVCs in Kano State.
According to him, the Commission convened over the weekend and deliberated on a variety of matters, including the date and procedure for collecting Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs), as well as the prosecution of individuals caught for illegally possessing PVCs.
Okoye stated that the Commission is resolved to make the collection of PVCs as seamless as possible following the end of the statutory period for the presentation of the register of voters for claims and objections.
Okoye stated that a Standard Operating Procedure SOP has been developed and that this will be one of the issues discussed and finalised at a retreat scheduled to hold in Lagos from November 28th to December 2nd, 2022, involving all Resident Electoral Commissioners RECs from the 36 states of the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory FCT).