32,972 PVCs yet to be collected in Bauchi – State REC

Unless something happens not fewer than 33,972 registered voters in Bauchi state who did not collect their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) will not participate in the 2019 general elections across the state.

The INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), in Bauchi State, Ibrahim Abdullahi disclosed this on Tuesday during a stakeholder meeting on the update of the level of preparedness of the Commission for a general election, slated to hold on the 16th and March February 2019, held at the INEC, Bauchi State office.

Ibrahim Abdullahi said that as at January 10, 2019, a total number of 32,972 Permanent Voter Cards were yet to be collected which according to him is about 90 percent of the total Voters cards received for distribution in Bauchi state.

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The REC also said that the Commission has recruited all the ad-hoc staff that will man the conduct of the elections, adding that the recruitment was strictly based on the policies and guidelines of INEC.

According to him, the Commission has received all the required non-sensitive materials, adding that the last batch of the materials is being offloaded at the Central Bank in which representatives of political parties will witness the distribution of the election materials.

Ibrahim Abdullahi said that, ” I am appealing to political parties who fielded candidates to comply with section 45 of the electoral act 2010 as amended which provides that each political party must notify the electoral officer of the local government in writing to appoint a polling agent for each polling unit and coalition center in the local government for which it has a candidate”.

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“The notice must state the name and address of the polling agents which will be given to the electoral body at least seven days before the date fixed for the election”, he further said.

The stakeholders meeting was attended by security agents, leaders of political parties, religious leaders, Civil Society Organizations and the Media.