Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) said yesterday that it would not allow proxy collection of Permanent Voter Card (PVCs) ahead of Edo governorship election scheduled for September 21.
Chairman of the commission, Prof Mahmood Yakubu, who disclosed this at a meeting with Resident Electoral Commissioners, said the refusal of proxy collection was to ensure the cards did not end up in wrong hands.
He said register of voters for the governorship election would be presented today to representatives of parties participating in the election, at the INEC headquarters in Benin.
He said: “It is important to emphasise that the commission’s policy that PVCs must be personally collected by registered voters has not changed.
“The cards will not be distributed or collected by proxy so that they do not end up in the wrong hands. We urge voters, who took their time to register during the CVR, to also take time to collect their PVCs in person and, most importantly, to come out on Election Day and vote for the party of their choice.
“Still as part of our preparations for the Edo State governorship election, softcopy of the final and comprehensive register of voters will be presented to each party fielding candidates in the election tomorrow (today) at our state office in Benin City.
“This is in fulfilment of item 10 of the Timetable and Schedule of Activities for the election.
Besides Edo and Ondo governorship elections, Yakubu said there are pending by-elections to fill seven vacancies in the National and State Assemblies across six states.
He said: “Following the conclusion of the last Continuous Voters Registration CVR) in Edo and Ondo states, the commission published the figures of new registrants for the two states following the clean-up of the register.
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“For Edo State, 119,206 new voters were registered. In addition, 8,847 voters transferred their registration from other states of the federation to Edo State, while 46,171 voters transferred their registration within the state i.e. from one part of the state to another.
“As provided by law, the commission has updated the records of 4,808 voters that applied for correction of names, addresses or dates of birth from previous registrations and also replaced 5,406 lost or damaged PVCs.
“Put together, 184,438 voters of categories were served by the commission during the last CVR in Edo State. They will be issued new voter cards (PVCs).
“I am glad to report that the cards have been printed and delivered to our office in Benin City. From there, they have been handed over to our Electoral Officers (EOs) for collection by voters.
“To ensure a seamless process, the cards will be available for collection in the 192 wards in the state where the last CVR took place from August 22 to 26 from 9am to 5pm daily, including the weekend.”