The Independent National Electoral Commission on Thursday raised
the alarm that some politicians in Oyo State were mounting pressure on
the commission to sell unclaimed 914,529 permanent voter cards in its
custody to them.
The commission said it was not giving in to
such pressure aimed at rigging the forthcoming polls because “INEC is
determined to ensure that people’s votes count in the free, fair and
credible elections in 2019.”
Speaking on the theme, “Online
journalism and Media integrity in Nigeria,” Agboke declared that some
politicians, whose identities he did not disclose, approached the
commission to buy PVCs to rig the elections.
He stated, “As far as we are concerned, PVCs are not for sale.”
The
REC assured residents of the state of smooth elections devoid of crisis
in 2019, stressing that no worker of the commission would sell PVCs to
any politician ahead of the 2019 elections.
Agboke said, “They
are looking for PVCs to buy. They are looking for what is not available
because they know that these things are not available. This is the
security report at my disposal.
“Tell those who are looking for
PVCs to buy that there is none to buy in Oyo State. I can assure you
that no INEC employee will sell PVCs to any politician. I can assure you
that the process will be free and fair in Oyo State.
“Those who are looking for PVCs to buy, I won’t give you their names. I don’t have their names.
“But
that is the security report I got and the report did not specify the
party and the individuals that are involved. They want us to give them
PVCs but we can’t give it to them. They want to buy PVCs but there is
none to sell in Oyo State.”
Agboke urged journalists in the state
to cooperate with the commission in spreading accurate information to
members of the public.
He said, “All of us are stakeholders. If
you are in doubt, call INEC. More so, you are online journalists, let us
ensure that we have our facts correct. For me in Oyo State, I have
nothing to hide. We conducted the election in Eruwa and the people that
won, won.”
He urged journalists to abide by the ethics of the profession at all times.
The
South-West Bureau Chief of The Nation and an Associate Editor of the
Nigerian Tribune newspapers, Mr Bisi Oladele, and Mr Wale Ojo-Lanre
respectively, urged journalists to always abide by the rules and
regulations guiding the profession in their day-to-day reportage.
They
said online journalism had come to stay in Nigeria and admonished
journalists to distinguish themselves from ordinary writers considering
the fact that “almost everybody is a journalist with the advent of
internet and smart phones.”
They agreed that one of the ways for
the journalists “ to differentiate themselves from ordinary writers was
for them to cross-check their facts, investigate their stories and be
conscious of the existing laws of the land.”
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