A total of 2,176,352 have collected their Permanent Voter Cards and are eligible to vote in Oyo state from a total number of 2,934,107 registered voters.
Meanwhile, a total of 786,294 PVCs remain uncollected.
Resident Electoral Commissioner of Oyo State, Mr Mutiu Agboke disclosed this on Friday, while receiving sensitive materials for Saturday’s election at Central Bank of Nigeria, Ibadan.
Agboke described reports that the number of PVCs collected in the state surpassed the total number of registered voters as unnecessary attempts to heat up the polity.
He explained that the uncollected PVCs was inclusive of names of those who had died since 2011 as well as those who had requested for the relocation of cards from their previous to a new location.
Agboke said data being bandied in some sections of the media was that prior to the commencement of the cleaning up of its data to remove the dead ones and ones transferred.
“If you add the collected and uncollected PVCs, definitely it will be greater than the voters’ register but we have removed some names. Out of the names we have, some names have been removed because they are already dead.
“When we pasted names, we discovered that those who had not collected PVCs between 2011 till date, whose PVCs are in our custody, some of them are dead. And by the time we receive the death certificate from their loved ones, we discovered that their PVCs are not to be released and are still with us. So, uncollected PVCs are inclusive of those who are dead.
“Also, those who have moved from one place to the other, by the time we move them, the movement would have necessitated the relocation of their cards. You have moved from location A to B, your cards will no more be where you are again. But the ones we have issued, we have to collect them back and process it.
“So, we should talk about the total number of registered and uncollected PVCs. If you remove the uncollected from the total registered, you have the total number of collected ones not using the data used before we began the Continuous Voter Registration. This is because we have to clean up our system and remove the dead ones and the ones transferred.
“In Oyo state, we have a total number of registered voters of 2,934, 107. We have uncollected PVCs of 786,294, the total number of collected PVCs is 2,176,352 and they are eligible to vote,” Agboke said.
ALSO READ:The battle has just begun —Orbih, Edo PDP chairman
Meanwhile, as at 2 pm, both ballot papers and result sheets for Oyo Central Senatorial district are still being expected.
Also, form EC8A1 for Senate for all the voting points created in all the Senatorial districts are being expected.
This is as all ballot papers to be used for the presidential election in Oyo state are still being expected.
Addressing the situation, Agboke said the yet to be received sensitive materials were in Lagos for onward lifting to Oyo state.
To prevent delay, Agboke, however, said that it had begun sorting and deployment of materials on ground to various local governments while it awaited others.
“As I speak to you, our materials are in Lagos for onward transportation to Oyo state. Instead of waiting endlessly for every material to be here, we have in our own wisdom thought of sorting them out for deployment to various local governments. I am sure that as we are going on with the sorting and sharing, other materials will arrive.
“The materials we are waiting for our ballot papers for Oyo Central Senatorial District, both ballot papers and result sheets. We are also expecting the delivery of all the ballot papers for the presidential election. Also, form EC8A1 for Senate for all the voting points that we created in all the Senatorial districts,” Agboke said.