By Godfrey AKON
As part of preparation for the September 21, 2024 governorship election in Edo State, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has announced that the collection of 184,438 personal voter’s cards, PVCs, will commence on August 22 and elapse on September 28, 2024.
Speaking at a meeting with Resident Electoral Commissioners, RECs, of the 36 states and FCT, on Monday in Abuja, INEC Chairman, Prof Mahmood Yakubu, said all the cards have been printed and delivered to INEC’s office in Benin City.
Yakubu said the PVCs will be available for collection in all the 192 Wards in Edo State where the last CVR took place from Thursday 22nd August 2024 to Monday 26th August 2024.
The INEC Chairman, however, warned that the cards will not be distributed or collected by proxy so that they do not end up in the wrong hands, stressing that the commission’s policy that PVCs must be personally collected by registered voters has not changed.
“I am glad to report that all the cards have been printed and delivered to our office in Benin City. From there, they have been handed over to our Electoral Officers (EOs) for collection by voters.
“To ensure a seamless process, the cards will be available for collection in all the 192 Wards in the State where the last CVR took place from Thursday 22nd August 2024 to Monday 26th August 2024 from 9.00am to 5.00pm daily including the weekend.
“Thereafter, the collection will continue in our 18 Local Government offices across the State from Wednesday 28th August 2024 to Sunday 8th September 2024 from 9.00am to 5.00pm, including the weekends,” he explained.
Yakubu, who also disclosed that the commission has developed a register containing, among other information, the names and photographs of the 184,438 voters to ease the collection of their PVCs, said the register has been uploaded to INEC’s website to facilitate easy identification and collection of the cards.
He urged voters who registered during the Continuous Voter Registration, CVR, exercise to also take time to collect their PVCs in person and come out on election day to vote for the party of their choice.
“Still as part of our preparations for the Edo State Governorship election, the soft copy of the final and comprehensive register of voters will be presented to each political party fielding candidates in the election tomorrow Tuesday 20th August 2024 in our State office in Benin City,” he said.
On the Ondo State election, he said the commission is working on the schedule for the collection of PVCs in the state before the election.
“Our attention is focused on the Edo State at the moment because the election is holding next month. I want to assure the electorate in Ondo State that action is being taken in respect of the availability of their PVCs for the governorship election holding in November this year.
“Very soon, the Commission will make available detailed arrangement for the collection of PVCs for all categories of voters from the recent CVR in the State,” he said.
