The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Ogun State has disclosed that about 566,637 Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs) of voters who registered between 2011 and 2018 during the Continuous Voters Registration Exercise would be available for collection across the 236 wards in the State.
According to the Commission, the total number of eligible voters in the State is 2,386,101, assuring that their names would soon be pasted at the 3,210 polling units in the State for check.
The Commission’s Administrative Secretary, Mr James Oludele Popoola who disclosed this at a “Stakeholders Election Forum,” organised by the Commission in Abeokuta, the State capital to brief the electorate on activities of the Commission towards the forth coming elections.
Popoola added that voters who registered for their PVCs between the stated period can begin to pick up the cards from November 6 to 12.
He disclosed that INEC had registered 571, 971 voters during the Continuous Voters Registration (CVR) in the State between April, 2017 and August, 2018 and had printed PVC up to the first quarter of 2018 from the data generated during the period, adding that the PVCs of those who registered for the second quarter is currently being printed.
Popoola said some of the challenges facing the Commission were “Identifying those who are underaged, non Nigerians and those who have died among the registered voters.”
To overcome these challenges, he said the Commission would display the hard copies of the Electronic Register of Voters at all the polling units between November 6 and 12 as well as release forms for claims and objections at registration area for clarification of names.
According to him, “Attestation and PVC incident forms would be respectively administered on voters without Temporary Voters Cards (TVCs) and those whose names appear in the register of voters but without unprinted PVCs”.
Security personnel who attended the Forum declared their readiness to make sure that the 2019 elections exercise is free, fair and credible.
The State’s Commissioner for Police, Ahmed Iliyasu who spoke through his Deputy, Mr Edward A. pledged that the State Police Command would deploy necessary resources to all the polling units to ensure safety of Voters.
He said, “We are fully prepared for the elections. I want to assure you that we will be present at the centres where the PVCs will be collected next week to ensure full security. On that day, nothing can limit us, we will be going into the elections with all the resources at our disposal”.
On his part, the Central Commander of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), Mr Clement Oladele said, “We are ready to do the needful to see that the elections go peacefully in all the centres. I want to urge all voters to be partners in progress and play according to the rules during, before and after the elections.”
