Ahead of the November 11 governorship elections in Bayelsa, Imo and Kogi states, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has approved the resumption of collection of Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs) for registered voters who could not collect their PVCs before the suspension of the exercise on February 5th, 2023.
The newly appointed National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee of INEC, Mr Sam Olugbadebo Olumekun, disclosed this Tuesday in Abuja.
He said the development is in continuation of INEC’s preparations for the forthcoming off-cycle governorship elections in the three states, and that the current exercise only covers the three states where governorship elections will be held on November 11.
“The PVCs will be available for collection at all our local government area offices in the three states; eight in Bayelsa, 27 in Imo and 21 in Kogi. In addition, the commission has created other centres with a large number of uncollected PVCs.
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“The details of all centres will be made available by the Resident Electoral Commissioners in the three states,” Olumekun said.
He said the commission has earmarked weekdays (Monday – Friday) from 9.00am to 3.00pm for the collection of PVCs for a period of four weeks from September 11th – October 9th 2023.
Meanwhile, two Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) have been redeployed to other states.
The REC for Edo State, Mr Obo Effanga, takes over in Bayelsa State in view of the forthcoming off-cycle governorship election, while Prof. Ayobami Salami moves to Lagos from Ekiti State.
The two states are among those without RECs following the end of the tenure of the last holders of the offices.
“The commission once again enjoins all political parties and candidates to conduct themselves peacefully and avoid utterances and actions capable of causing a breach of peace in their ongoing campaigns,” Olumekun said.
