Over 160,966 uncollected PVCs in Kogi ― INEC

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Kogi State has lamented over 160,966 uncollected Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) in Kogi State.

The Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in Kogi State, Dr Hale Gabriel Longpet, disclosed this on Tuesday during an interview with newsmen.

He said voters in Kogi State are expected to be 1.9 million which include those who registered between 2019 to June 2022.

Dr Longpet said as of December 2, 2022, out of the 154,984 voter cards which were produced for voters who registered in 2019, only 13,689 were collected while 141,295 have not been collected from the 2019 voters registration.

For the fresh registration between 2021 and June 2022, Longpet said the commission expected 38,505 people to come and collect their PVCs but unfortunately, only 18,924 voters have collected their PVCs while 19,671 are yet uncollected.

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Continuing, the REC said “I have always used every opportunity to express my displeasure over the poor collection of PVCs in Kogi State. We have 32,508 people who transferred their PVCs from one polling unit to another. But so far, we have seen only 5,977 who have come to collect those transferred PVCs. And You will agree with me that it is not an encouraging figure.

“However, we are under strict order at all state offices of INEC. From today December 6, we have started sensitising people, engaging civil society organisation, media to start helping people to come and collect their PVCs,” he added.

The Kogi INEC REC also used the medium to debunk the information making the rounds that a court of competent jurisdiction in Nigeria has ordered INEC to resume registration of voters ahead of the election.

“We discussed this in Lagos during the INEC stakeholders meeting in Lagos. There is no court that asked INEC to resume the registration of voters. It is all false and should be disregarded by the public,” he added.

While assuring Nigerians that the commission is ready for a transparent, free and fair election, Longpet noted that the introduction of BVAS by INEC has gone a long way to reducing electoral malpractice.