The Independent National Electoral Commission yesterday said that it had adopted a strategy that would prevent impersonators from participating in the 2015 general elections.
The commission hopes to achieve this by commencing the issuance of permanent voter card to all Nigerians that registered in 2011.
“If they allow people to deceive them that they can use their permanent voter card and vote for them, they are deceiving themselves because it will not be possible. We are going to use a card reader that will authenticate the owner of the card before the person will be allowed to vote”, the Resident Electoral Commissioner in Akwa Ibom State, Dr. Gabriel Ada, said in Uyo, the state capital.
Ada told journalists that every registered voter would have to bring their temporary voter cards in exchange for the permanent card.
He said the permanent voter card would be used for the 2015 polls.
The INEC REC noted that the permanent cards would be issued before the next general elections and that the exercise would take only three days on a weekend to enable workers’ participation.
He said, “Before the elections, we are going to issue the permanent voter card to the electorate.
“We are hopeful we will do it soon but only I do not know the exact date it will start in the state.
“But the distribution will take place at weekend and it will last for three days in all polling unit across the state”.
The Akwa Ibom REC explained that the commission would conduct another voter registration to cater for those who were not up to 18 years of age as at the time the last exercise took place.
