The
Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) said it has received reports
of attempts to clone Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) and sell them online.
INEC, in a statement it issued on Sunday, said
it “had anticipated these and proactively taken measures to preserve and
further secure our electoral materials.”
The statement, signed by the commission’s
Director, Voter Education and Publicity, Oluwole Uzzi, said, “Several security
features and secret source codes are contained in the Smart Card Readers which
enable them to read only PVCs duly issued by the Commission.”
The commission’s statement came hours after
some tweets circulated online suggested that the PVCs meant for use in
Nigeria’s elections were being sold by an online store.
In apparent reaction to the photos of the PVCs
purported to be on sale online, INEC said, “The advertisement shows photographs
of blank cards which have not been personalised and which do not contain any
details.”
The electoral body said it would engage the
government, the security agencies, as well as “the promoters of the platform”
to investigate the matter.
“In addition to the existing features, the
Commission is already working to further secure the PVCs and the Smart Card
Readers and will continue to protect them from unauthorised and malicious
access.
“It is for this reason that, beginning from
next week, we are commencing the systematic hardware and software upgrade of
all the Smart Card Readers nationwide.
“It is worthy of note that this enhancement had
already been successfully done in Ekiti and Osun, preparatory to the upcoming
Governorship elections in both States,” the commission said, while assuring
Nigerians that its system was well-fortified ahead of the 2019 general
elections.
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