The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has said it would begin distribution of Permanent Voter Cards (PVC) to newly registered voters on Thursday, ahead of the governorship elections in Edo State.

In a statement on its X handle on Monday, the commission shared the list of the centres where the cards would be distributed.

It said from August 22 to August 26, registered voters could pick up their cards at any of the 192 Wards in Edo State from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm daily, including weekends.

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, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, said all the newly printed PVCs have been delivered to INEC’s office in Benin City and are now available for collection.

Read the full statement below:

“I welcome you all to this meeting which is coming on the heels of the third quarterly consultative meeting with stakeholders. You may recall that in addition to our virtual meeting early this year, we also met in Lagos at the end of the induction retreat for new Resident Electoral Commissioners last month.

“Today’s meeting is coming close to two off-cycle governorship elections. As you are aware, the Edo and Ondo State governorship elections are around the corner. Furthermore, there are pending bye-elections to fill seven vacancies in the National and State Assemblies across six States of the Federation. The two Governorship elections and the bye-elections will be the main focus of our attention at this meeting.

“Following the conclusion of the last Continuous Voters Registration CVR) in Edo and Ondo States, the Commission published the figures of new registrants for the two States following the clean-up of the register. For Edo State, 119,206 new voters were registered. In addition, 8,847 voters transferred their registration from other States of the Federation to Edo State while 46,171 voters transferred their registration within the State i.e. from one part of the State to another. As provided by law, the Commission has updated the records of 4,808 voters who applied for correction of names, addresses or dates of birth from previous registrations and also replaced 5,406 lost or damaged PVCs. Put together, 184,438 voters of various categories were served by the Commission during the last CVR in Edo State. They will be issued new voter cards (PVCs).

“I am glad to report that all the cards have been printed and delivered to our office in Benin City. From there, they have been handed over to our Electoral Officers (Eos) for collection by voters. To ensure a seamless process, the cards will be available for collection in all 192 Wards in the State where the last CVR took place from Thursday 22nd August 2024 to Monday 26th August 2024 from 9.00 am to 5.00 pm daily including the weekend. Thereafter, the collection will continue in our 18 Local Government offices across the State from Wednesday 28th August 2024 to Sunday 8th September 2024 from 9.00 am to 5.00 pm, including the weekends. Detailed information on the dates and locations of the 210 centres (192 Wards and 18 LGA offices) has been uploaded to our website and social media platforms for public information.

“Furthermore, the Commission 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 held 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 held 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.” (Channels TV)

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