The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) yesterday said 333,179 Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) are ready for collection in Osun State.
Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) Prof. Abdulganiyu Raji stated this at a workshop organised for journalists and information officers by the Osun State Government and KA Media Consultants.
Raji, represented by the Head of Election and Party Monitoring, Shehu Muhammad, explained that the PVCs were printed after the completion of the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) in March.
He said the PVCs are for new registrants and reissued PVCs for old/existing registrants, and urged those concerned to pick their cards at the nearest INEC local government area office to their residence.
“The PVCs are for new registrants and reissued PVCs for those who corrected information on their cards, replaced defaced and lost cards, and those transferring their voting rights to Osun,” he added.
The REC also said the Commission is 95 per cent ready for the July 16 governorship election.
“Our office has taken delivery and custody of virtually all non-sensitive materials and batching been done at the local government areas. The remaining five per cent are what we refer to as sensitive materials which, by INEC practice, will not arrive until about 48 hours to the start of the election,” he added.
Former Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs Kolapo Alimi yesterday defected to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Alimi, a staunch supporter of the Minister of Interior and former Governor Rauf Aregbesola, announced his defection at the PDP secretariat in Osogbo. He was a two-term commissioner during Aregbesola’s administration as governor.
He was also a staunch member of The Osun Progressives (TOP), a caucus within the state All Progressives Congress (APC), backed by Aregbesola.
Alimi, who was received by the PDP governorship candidate Ademola Adeleke, Caretaker Chairman Akintunde Akindele and other PDP members, said he left APC because of ‘marginalisation’.
Though he said Aregbesola could not leave APC because of his stake in it, Alimi, however, said he decided to dump the party because he could no longer withstand the maltreatment allegedly being meted to him and others.
“We cried out so many times without any solution. You know Aregbesola himself is a bigwig in APC. He cannot leave the party, but to some of us who can no longer withstand the heat the government is turning on us, we have to move out,” he said.
Alimi, however, appealed to the people to come out en masse to vote for Adeleke in the July 16 governorship election.
Adeleke said Alimi’s coming to the PDP would boost the party’s chances in the election. The governorship candidate was confident he would win the election in a free and fair atmosphere.
“I want to thank President Muhammadu Buhari for signing the electoral bill into law. This will prevent rigging during elections. I believe the people of Osun will defend their votes during the election,” he added.