Ahead of the September 21, 2024, governorship election in Edo State, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Edo office, disclosed on Thursday that it would begin the distribution of about 373,030 uncollected Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs) on May 27 in Edo.
The State Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Dr Anugbum Onuoha, stated this during a stakeholders meeting held in Benin on the forthcoming Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise.
Onuoha stated that the PVC collection exercise would be done side by side with the CVR exercise, also scheduled for May 27
Speaking further, Onuoha said that the statistics of registered voters in Edo were 2,501,081, while collected PVCs stood at 2,128,288, and uncollected PVCs stood at 373,030.
He said that both the CVR and the PVCs collection would be a 10-day exercise, starting from May 27 to June 5, 2024, from 9 am to 3 pm daily, including weekends.
The REC explained that the exercise would be conducted in the 192 wards and the state headquarters of INEC in Edo.
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 voters cards
“There will be no Pre-registration option because of time constraints, ” he said.
Onuoha, however, appealed for the support of the media, civil society organisations (CSOs), traditional rulers, and religious leaders in encouraging voters to locate and pick up their PVCs.
According to him, the Commission had published the final list of candidates for the Edo governorship election following the conclusion of political party primaries.
Mrs. Doris Kande-Wyom, deputy director, Voter Registry, INEC Abuja, who took stakeholders through CVR processes, appealed to stakeholders present to mobilise prospective registrants for the exercise.
Present at the stakeholders meeting were the chairmen of political parties, religious leaders, traditional rulers, security agencies, and CSOs, among others.
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