The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) said on Wednesday that it would prosecute under-age voters in Plateau.
Dr Godwin Kwanga, the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) of INEC in the state made this known in a Stakeholders’ Forum in Jos ahead of re-run elections in the state fixed for Feb. 20, 2016.
Kwanga said that the state was replete with underage voters in possession of Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs).
He announced that the polls would hold in Langtang South, Pankshin North and Pankshin South state constituencies. The REC said that the menace of underage voters almost marred the last general elections in the state. According to him, the menace produced a lot of mutilated and voided votes during the April 11, 2015 polls in Quan’Pan Local Government Area.
“Our experience in Quan’Pan showed that a lot of underage voters were having the PVCs and this led to a lot of cancellations.”
“One of the underage voters, who had PVC bearing his image and the age of 36 years, confessed to INEC officials that he was only 16 years old.”
“We looked the other way even when in the same elections, our tags were photocopied and massively reproduced by agents of political parties,’’ he said.
He, however, said that unlike what happened in the April 11 polls, INEC was set to prosecute any case of underage voters in the coming rerun and supplementary polls
