INEC disowns online voter registration website

The Independent National Electoral Commission INEC has disassociated itself from an online website urging Nigerians to enrol for Permanent Voters Card (PVC).

INEC said this in a statement by Mr Festus Okoye, the National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, in Abuja on Monday describing the website as fake.

“Barely 24 hours after the suspension of voter registration, INEC attention has been drawn to an online site urging Nigerians to enrol for voter card (PVC) registration,” Okoye said.

He said that the scammers claimed that the Federal Government has approved individual Permanent Voter Card (PVC) registration online, to avoid unnecessary crowd at the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) centers.

“The Commission states unequivocally that the site is not linked to the commission and the link/portal is spurious and from a dubious source,” he said.

Okoye said that INEC was the only body constitutionally and legally mandated to conduct the registration of persons qualified to vote in any election in Nigeria and to update and revise the register when the need arose.

“The commission is solely responsible for organising, undertaking, and supervising national elections in the country and does not share this responsibility with anybody or organisation.

“Members of the public are strongly advised not to succumb to the antics of online scammers and should avoid such fake sites.

“The commission has concluded the Continuous Voter Registration nationwide and does not need to open an additional site or portal for the purposes of registration of voters,” he said