2023: Buy Vote, Go To Jail For One Year Or Pay N500,000 – INEC Reveals

A stern warning has gone out to people who intend to involve in vote buying during the forthcoming general election in Nigeria.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has revealed the punishment for vote buyers that may want to engage in such practices at the polls next year.

The commission said voter buyers if caught and found guilty would be sent to one-year imprisonment or be fined an amount of N500,000.

Naija News reports that the INEC commissioner in Jigawa State, Professor Muhammad Lawal Bashar made this disclosure to pressmen while fielding questions ahead of the election.

Bashar submitted that the commission is prepared to conduct all its elections with the BVAS machine to ensure free and fair elections.

The Jigawa commissioner disclosed that the state has received over one hundred and fifty-six permanent voter cards (PVCs) which the commission in the state is still distributing till 22 January 2023.

He remarked that “The machine will identify voters going to vote and those who have registered more than once will not be able to vote.”

He urged all those who have registered in the state to do well to collect their voter cards before the closing date.

Bashar revealed that the commission has made a special plan that will allow people with special needs, the elderly and pregnant women to vote easily.