The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Wednesday mocked politicians buying and stockpiling Permanent Voters Cards (PVC) with the believe that they will assist them in securing electoral victory at all cost, saying they were still leaving in the past.

It said that the era when people get away with such sharp practices was over with the 2026 amended electoral acts now in effects.

Head, INEC Voters Education and Publicity, Kwara state, Dr. Adejumo Peter, made the declaration when responding to question from journalists at a seminar organised by the Kwara Correspondents’ Chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) to equip it members ahead of the 2027 election coverage. 

According to him, “If a politician is trying to get some PVCs, that politician is wasting his time and is still leaving in the past. BVAs is not card reader, we are no longer using card readers. Unless the owner of a PVC make himself available for verification, that PVC is as useless as anything”.

He addd that “INEC has done a lot that people cannot use others’ PVCs to vote in an election. That is why politicians have resorted to vote-buying.

“Many of the politicians are still living in the past as stocking and carting away PVCs cannot ensure electoral victory”.

Speaking on the topic: ‘Dissecting the amended Electoral Act 2026: Innovations, and implications for Nigeria’s 2027 general elections,’ the commission’s Head, Legal Unit, Barrister Abdulfata Atata, said the amended Electoral Act 2026 “marks a transformative moment in the evolution of Nigeria’s electoral framework.”

He added that: “as Nigeria approaches 2027 general elections, the Act will serve as both a test and a tool for deepening the country’s democratic governance.”

Warning against vote buying, the INEC legal offiver recalled that the commission’s office in Kwara during the last general elections prosecuted 5 cases of vote buying in court and secured convictions for two.