Presidency denies giving orders on use of National ID card for 2019 elections.

President Muhammad Buhari

The Presidency has denied media claims that President Buhari has given orders that national identity cards be used in the 2019 elections.

This was contained in statement made available to journalist by Senoir Special Assistant to Vice President on Media and publicity, Laolu Akande.

Mr Akande  insisted that no such orders weremade by the President and the said speech by the Vice President made no mention of the 2019 elections at all.

According to him, what the speech said was that the President has taken an initiative to harmonize identity management in the country
so as to ensure that every Nigerian has a unique identifier.

“President’s charge that the national identification number, (NIN) is used to
authenticate eligible voters in the near future, as well as in the areas of access to health insurance, registration of SIM cards, access to social welfare, financial transactions, etc”. He said

Mr Akande further explained:  “What this means is that such a unique identifier as the NIN can, when eventually issued, help to confirm age and nationality status of eligible voters, for instance.


“The President was not giving any directive to INEC or any order regarding 2019.

“Mr. President and this administration fully respect the autonomy of the Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC) and also
very determined to preserve the integrity of the electoral process at all times.”