The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has directed newly registered voters to collect their cards at any of the 192 Wards in Edo State from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm daily from Thursday 22 September.
The cards according to the agency, would be distributed including weekends ahead of the governorship elections in Edo State.
The commission in a statement on its X handle on Monday, said the commission has shared the list of the centres where the cards would be distributed.
After this period, the collection would move to INEC’s local government offices across the state, where voters can collect their PVCs from August 28 to September 8, 2024.
The Edo governorship election is scheduled to be held on September 21, 2024.
A total of 184,438 voters were registered during the recently concluded Continuous Voters Registration in Edo State.
The figure included 119,206 new registrations, 8,847 inter-state transfers, and 46,171 intra-state transfers.
While addressing the Resident Electoral Commissioners in Abuja on Monday, the INEC Chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, said all the newly printed PVCs have been delivered to INEC’s office in Benin City and are now available for collection.
Furthermore, the Commission said it has developed a register containing, among other information, the names and photographs of the 184,438 voters to ease the collection of their PVCs. The register has also been uploaded to our website to facilitate easy identification and collection of the cards.
“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, the softcopy of the final and comprehensive register of voters will be presented to each political party fielding candidates in the election tomorrow Tuesday 20th August 2024 in our State office in Benin City. This is in fulfilment of item 10 of the Timetable and Schedule of Activities for the election.
“The Commission is working on the schedule for the collection of PVCs in Ondo State. Our attention is focused on the Edo State at the moment because the election is holding next month. I want to assure the electorate in Ondo State that action is being taken in respect of the availability of their PVCs for the governorship election holding in November this year. Very soon, the Commission will make available detailed arrangements for the collection of PVCs for all categories of voters from the recent CVR in the State.”
Micheal has over 5 years experience in digital journalism. He’s a New Media Expert with an interest in Human Development and Global Politics.
