From Tony Osauzo, Benin
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), yesterday, announced that it would commence the distribution of about 373,030 uncollected Permanent Voters card (PVCs) on May 27 in Edo State.
The Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Dr. Anugbum Onuoha, announced during a stakeholders meeting in Benin on the forthcoming CVR exercise that the collection would be done side-by-side with the Continuous Voters Registration (CVR) exercise.
The INEC REC explained that the exercise would be conducted in the 192 wards and the state headquarters of INEC in Benin.
He also disclosed that each registration centre would be managed by two officials drawn from the Commission and the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC).
“In addition to the registration of voters, the Commission will also make available the uncollected PVCs for collection during CVR.
“Also note that no PVC will be collected by proxy. Registered voters should come in person to collect their voter cards.
“There will be no pre-registration option because of time constraints”, he said and appealed for the support of the media, CSOs, traditional rulers and religious leaders in encouraging voters to locate and pick up their PVCs.
He said the Commission has published the final list of candidates for the Edo governorship election following the conclusion of political parties primaries.
Dr. Onuoha gave the statistics of registered voters in Edo as 2,501,081 while collected PVC was 2,128,288 and uncollected PVCs 373,030.
At the event, Mrs. Doris Kande-Wyom, deputy Director, Voter Registry, INEC Abuja, who took stakeholders through CVR processes, appealed to stakeholders present to mobilize prospective registrants for the exercise.
Among those at the stakeholders meeting were the chairmen of political parties, religious leaders, traditional rulers, security agencies and CSOs.