THE Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has solicited the support of the media to deeply engage in sensitisation and conscientisation exercise targeted at educating the electorate.

Its National Commissioner, Festus Okoye, stressed the urgent need to build public confidence in the electoral process through holistic voter education and general enlightenment of the electorate.

Okoye, represented by the State Commissioner, Prof. Abdulganiyu Raji, said in Ado Ekiti, yesterday, at the zonal sensitisation forum for the media, organised by the electoral body, that the Commission was adequately prepared to conduct the elections with all activities attached to electioneering processes almost fulfilled, as mandated by the constitution.

Okoye urged all registered voters yet to collect their Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs) to go and collect them, adding that INEC has made special arrangement to make them available at the designated centres across wards.

He stressed that smart cards reader was designed to authenticate, confirm and verify the fingerprint of the voters as an additional confirmatory procedure to avert electoral malpractices.

In a case the finger is not authenticate by the card reader, but the PVC is confirmed as genuine and the voter’s personal details are consistent with the manual register, the electorate shall be allowed to vote, he assured.

On the challenge posed by vote buying, he said INEC has put in place measures to curtailing such in the elections, adding” “We have received credible information that some politicians are financially inducing electorate to collect the Voter Identification Numbers (VIN) on their PVCs, since it will be difficult to buy votes at the polling units.”

He, however, assured Nigerians that INEC would collaborate with security agencies to deal with violators of electoral laws, including those who may be trying to compromise its staff to perpetuate the illegal acts.