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The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has urged Nigerians to stay alert at the polling units to spot foreigners who may disguise themselves as Nigerians in order to vote in the forthcoming 2023 general elections.
The commission also re-emphasised that only validly registered Nigerian voters will be allowed to vote during the elections, adding that the Nigerian Immigration Service has been placed on alert to arrest anyone who parades themselves as Nigerian and has voter card.
This was made known by the INEC National Commissioner for Information, Festus Okoye, during an interview in a Channels TV programme, ‘Politics Today’.
Okoye called on Nigerians to be vigilant and raise the alarm if they discover non-Nigerians at any polling unit on election day.
Okoye's words: “In terms of non-Nigerians voting, only validly registered voters will be in a position to vote during the 2023 general election, and the Immigration Service, anytime they see any individual who claims to be a Nigerian and has voter card, they should arrest the person and make the voter card available to the commission.
“We cancel those registrations. So, Nigerians should be on a lookout; if any non-Nigerian approaches any of the polling unit on election day, they should indicate, and the security agencies will do the needful.”
Recall that there have been allegations that citizens of neighbouring countries usually participate in the Nigerian electoral process.
Recently, there was an uproar over discrepancies spotted on the INEC voter register, but the commission has since acknowledged the errors and promised to sanitise the register before the 2023 elections.