By Hosea parah, Abuja

The Independent national Electoral Commission (INEC) has discribed fake News and disinformation as the major threat to the upcoming general election.The commission appeals to Nigerians to remain conscious of this, even if the prior intention is worthy.

A statement signed by on the National Commissioner and Chairman Information and voter Education, Festus Okoye on Wednesday in Abuja said the video circulating on various social media platforms showing some INEC staff at FESTAC town, Amuwo Odofin Local Government Areas office, Lagos extracting Voter Identification Number(VINs) from permanent Voters Cards(PVCs) and entering same into their cellphone.

The Commission stated that the video was far from the truth. Actually, the video shows staff of INEC harvesting VINs from PVCs, but as part of inventory of uncollected Cards, provided for in the New Guidelines for the management and collection of PVCs, approved by the Commission for implementation Nationwide.

INEC in it’s determination to enhance the rate of collection of PVCs, the Commission decided to establish a PVC collection process that includes an online component.The procedure entails that registered Voters with access to the internet could go to a dedicated portal to ascertain whether their PVCs are ready and to find their locations for subsequent collection.

According to the Commission, people are to provide their details such as; name, date of birth, state of registration, or last six digits of the VINs that they provided or received during registration, to locate their Cards. However, without prejudice to those who wish to go directly to the collection centers.

The statement also stated that for the newer PVCs from the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) that took place between January and July 2022, the VINs were harvested automatically and made available online. Meanwhile for the older uncollected PVCs that predate the new guidelines, their VINs must be harvested manually and painstakingly for upload to the PVC collection portal (www.voters.inecnigeria.org).

The Commission appreciate Nigerians for their vigilance and determination to see the conduct of free,fair, credible and inclusive elections in 2023, it is very important that such information such as contained in the said video is verified before sharing it with the public.

INEC reminds Nigerians that all uncollected PVCs will be available for collection at our 774 Local Government offices nationwide from 12th December 2022 to 5th January 2023, from 6th January to 15 January 2023 the Cards will be made available for collection at the 8809 Registration Areas/Wards across the country in order to bring them.

However, from 16th January to 22nd January 2023, collection shall revert to our Local Government offices. While the online facility will be available throughout the exercise to assist registered Voters in locating their PVCs for collection.