The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says it will resume distribution of uncollected Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs) in Bayelsa and Kogi, ahead of the states’ Nov. 16 governorship elections.
INEC National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Mr Festus Okoye, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday in Abuja.
“The commission will definitely distribute the uncollected PVCs before the Kogi and Bayelsa state governorship elections,” he said.
Okoye said that the commission would soon meet to decide on whether to hold Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) in the two states before the elections.
“In the next one month, the commission will take a decision on whether to conduct CVR for these two states, just before the elections.
“So, that particular decision has not been taken. Definitely, the commission will take that decision.
“But what is certain is that we are going to distribute the uncollected PVCs in Kogi and Bayelsa before the conduct of governorship elections in the two states,” he said.
Okoye said that INEC would also resume nationwide distribution of PVCs immediately it concluded the ongoing review of the 2019 general elections.
“The moment we are through with the review of the conduct of 2019 general elections, we will resume the distribution of uncollected PVCs.
“All those uncollected PVCs are in state offices, the moment we conclude our review we will set a timetable for the resumption for the cards collection.”
The national commissioner also said that the commission would immediately after the conclusion of the review exercise, resume its activities and preparations for Kogi and Bayelsa elections.
Okoye said that the commission would commence preparation for the two states election early enough and used the experience and lessons learnt in the last general elections to improve on the state elections.
“We are going to move into Kogi and Bayelsa early enough. We are going to begin stakeholders’ engagement early.
“We are going to engage with traditional rulers, the media, religious leaders and every other stakeholder in these two states.
“We have harvested the positive and negatives of the 2019 general elections.
We are going to put them in the basket so that we improve in the conduct of elections in Kogi and Bayelsa.”
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