Edo election: INEC tasks citizens on PVC collection

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Friday urged eligible voters in Edo State to collect their Permanent Voters Cards (PVC).

National Commissioner and Chairman,  Information and Voter Education Committee (IVEC) Mr. Sam Olumekun made the appeal to mobilise citizens for PVC collection during INEC interactive engagement with journalists and On-Air-Personalities in Benin City, Edo State.

Represented by Chief Press Secretary (CPS) to the INEC National Chairman, Rotimi Oyekanmi said, “On Monday, the Chairman of INEC announced that the Permanent Voter Cards of registrants from the recently conducted Continuous Voter Registration Exercise (CVR) in Edo State are ready for collection.

“We commenced distribution of the PVCs yesterday August 22nd August 2024 at all the 192 Wards across the state. Let me reiterate here that collection is strictly in person and not by proxy.”

He added that the exercise will go on till 8th September 2024, from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm daily including the weekends.

“We will distribute at the Ward level from today to Monday 26th August 2024, after that, the collection will continue in our 18 Local Government Area offices across the State from Wednesday 28th August 2024 to Sunday 8th September 2024,” he said.

“Detailed information on the dates and locations of the 210 centers (192 Wards and 18 LGA offices) has been uploaded to our website and social media platforms for public information.”

Olumekun said that the Commission has developed a register containing among other information, the names and photographs of the voters to ease the collection of their PVCs.

According to Olumekun, “the register has also been uploaded to our website to facilitate easy identification and collection of the cards.”

Olumekun appealed to the media to support INEC by using its various platforms to create awareness about this exercise and to mobilise citizens to pick up these cards within the stipulated period.

He added that INEC is committed to conducting free, fair, and credible elections in Edo State.