“As we speak, only 1585 persons collected their PVCs between February 2016 and now, while 336,445 PVCs are yet to be collected by their owners out of the 1,543,787 PVCs received in the State."
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Monday said over 300,000 Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs) were yet to be collected at its offices located in all eighteen local council areas of Ondo State.
These outstanding PVCs belong to electorates participating in the November 26, 2016 governorship election in the State, according to Olusegun Agbaje, the Ondo State Resident Electoral Commissioner.
Mr. Agbaje made the disclosure at a briefing with reporters at the INEC-Alagbaka head office in Akure, the State capital.
The briefing was in preparation for the conduct of the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise penned for the 22nd and 26th of June 2016.
Mr. Agbaje also explained that only 1585 persons have so far collected their PVCs in preparation for the gubernatorial poll.
“As we speak, only 1585 persons collected their PVCs between February 2016 and now, while 336,445 PVCs are yet to be collected by their owners out of the 1,543,787 PVCs received in the State.
“All persons that have registered during the past registration exercise and have yet to collect their PVCs are therefore strongly advised to cash in on this opportunity and do so at their respective Local Government Area INEC offices,” he said.
A SaharaReporters correspondent reported that the figure represented a lower population of the registered electorates in the state.
The INEC boss said the CVR starting on June 22 is strictly meant for the registration of citizens who turned 18 after the last voter registration exercise.
“To be eligible for the CVR, a person must be a citizen of Nigeria and must have attained the age of 18 years or above and could not register during the last registration exercise," Mr. Agbaje explained.
He also warned there would be no registration by proxy while multiple registrations are not allowed.
Mr. Agbaje noted that violations of these rules would be punishable under Section 117 (c) of the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended) and liable to conviction of twelve months’ imprisonment.
He later asked for the electorates' unalloyed cooperation, particularly the political stakeholders in the State, in preparation for the election.
