No fewer than six staff of the Independent National
Electoral Commission, INEC, in Abia State are now helping the
police in their investigation over the discovery of scores of
permanent voters’ card, PVC, in the house of a criminal
suspect in Isiala Ngwa South of the state.
A reliable source from INEC state office in Umuahia confirmed
the arrest of the staff and said they were at the Police
Criminal Investigation Department where they were undergoing
interrogation.
The matter, he said, had already been reported to the
commission’s headquarters in Abuja and the affected cards
already placed on interdiction because of the seriousness with
which the commission viewed the offence.
The police, it was learned, were on the trail of a criminal
suspect in Isiala Ngwa South area, when they stumbled on
permanent voter’s cards in his house in the course of their
investigation in an entirely different matter.
However, it was not possible to ascertain the nature of the
crime they said suspect committed but the police were said to
be on investigation in his house when they found the PVCs.
Surprised by the discovery, the police were said to have
brought the PVCs to Abia State headquarters of INEC to
confirm if they were genuine PVCs from the commission.
On confirmation that the cards were genuine from the
commission, INEC then summoned its staff who worked in the
area and queried them over the cards because they never
reported any case of missing PVCs, either through stealing or
snatching.
Unable to give satisfactory explanation over the cards
discovered in the criminal suspect’s house, the police arrested
about six staff of the commission who worked in the area to
help them in their investigation.
When contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO,
Abia State command, promised to check their records and get
back to our correspondent, but did not respond before press
time.
Similarly, an inquiry sent to the CID boss through text
message was not replied at press time.