The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has announced that 125,928 out of 184,438 newly printed Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs) have been collected in Edo State ahead of the upcoming governorship election on September 21.
In a statement released on Tuesday in Abuja, Mr. Sam Olumekun, INEC’s National Commissioner and Chairman of Information and Voter Education Committee, highlighted that the collection rate of 68.3% marks the highest recorded by INEC since the introduction of the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) for off-cycle governorship elections in 2015.
The PVC collection drive took place across all 192 wards in Edo State from August 22 to August 26. Olumekun noted that this success was the result of a coordinated effort by INEC, emphasising that the commission has concluded PVC collection at the ward level.
He stated that, learning from previous collection exercises, INEC had meticulously organised the PVCs by Polling Units, Wards, and Local Government Areas (LGAs) and provided a collection register, detailing voters whose cards were ready. The register has been uploaded to the INEC website for public access.
Olumekun further mentioned that a detailed breakdown of PVC collection by LGAs is now available on the INEC website and social media platforms. He announced that the collection process would resume at all INEC offices in the 18 LGAs in Edo State from Wednesday until September 8.
He urged the remaining voters to collect their PVCs from INEC LGA offices and reiterated that “no cards should be collected by proxy.” He also pointed out that detailed information about the locations of INEC LGA offices can be found on the commission’s website.
