Niger declares holidays for PVC collection

• Says APC’s defection claims laughable   

NIGER State Government has declared Thursday and Friday work free in the state to enable eligible voters collect their Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs) ahead of the general elections.

   However, the state’s chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has dismissed the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) claims of defections to it as spurious and an attempt to deceive the electorates into believing that the opposition is no longer a ragtag political formation in the state.

   In a statement, the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Israel Ayegba Ebije, said the two-day holiday is to enable eligible voters meet the new deadline of February 8 set by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

   Ebije said the state government is resolved to ensure that nobody was disenfranchised on account of failure to collect PVC, adding that the work free days should enable people collect their cards within the timeframe.

   Noting that federal establishments and business organizations are not part of the holidays, he urged the state’s civil servants to use the period to mobilize people at the grassroots to that end by going to the designated collection points.

   “Your PVCs are not just ordinary cards, they are a veritable tools which you would use to elect your preferred candidates in the coming elections and many more elections to come,” he said. “It is therefore instructive for every eligible voter to collect voter’s card.”

   In a statement in Minna, the Public Relations Officer, Hassan Saba, insisted that the party was not aware of any of its member that defected to the opposition party, stressing that members of the PDP across the 25 local councils were intact.