AHEAD of the 2019 general elections, over a total of 73,109 Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) are yet to be collected by eligible registered voters in Edo state, the state Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Mr. Emmanuel Alex-Hart has disclosed.
Akex-Hart who spoke during a visit to the Edo State chapter of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) on Tuesday in Benin-City said that the uncollected PVCs were out of the 78,398 cards recorded during the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise of between April 22, 2017, and December 30, 2017.
He said: “A total of 5,289 cards have been collected leaving behind 73,109 cards uncollected at the different offices of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).”
The commissioner added that the 450,000 PVCs uncollected before the 2016 governorship elections in the state have since been transferred to the various local government offices of the commission in the state.
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Hart listed Ikpoba Okha, Oredo and Egor as the local government areas with the highest numbers of uncollected PVC of 16,049, 10,072 and 9,761 respectively as at June 11, 2018.
He urged members of the state chapter of NUJ to sensitize the populace especially those that yet to collect their PVCs to do so before the elections.
The state chairman of NUJ, Mr. Roland Osakue, assured the commission of the commitment and readiness of the council to partner the commission towards conducting a credible election in the country.
He, however, advised registered eligible voters that are yet to collect their PVCs to endeavour to collect theirs with a view to exercising their franchise during the elections.
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