The Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) has recovered 106 Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) from foreigners residing in Kwara State, North Central Nigeria.
The Comptroller of NIS in the state, Aminu Shamsuddin, reported this after immigration officers caught foreigners in possession of Nigerian PVCs during a regular patrol in Ilorin.
Shamsuddin stated that NIS has educated foreigners on the rules and regulations of election principles and warned them that those caught participating in Nigeria’s elections would be jailed, repatriated, and blacklisted.
Some foreigners voluntarily dropped their PVCs and left the country until after the election, but most were young people from Niger, Benin, and Ghana who claimed their landlords encouraged them to get the Voters’ Cards and vote for specific candidates.
He said, “During one of the sensitisation talks, the foreigners were scared to hear that anybody caught participating in any way during Nigeria elections would be jailed, repatriated and blacklisted.
“Some of the foreigners who had Nigerian PVCs willingly dropped their cards and travelled back to their various countries, to return after the whole election exercise.
“They claimed that their landlords in their various residences encouraged them to get the PVCs and vote during the election, so as to increase the number of votes for their various candidates.”