Ahead of the February elections, the independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Plateau State has disclosed that a total of 309, 000 Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs) are yet to be claimed by registered voters in the state.
The electoral body has also said the best it could do would be to prevent vote-buying at polling centres, adding that it will not follow voters and politicians to their closets to prevent them from selling and buying PVCs.
Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in Plateau State, Mr. Hussaini Halilu Pai, disclosed this yesterday in Jos while holding stakeholders’ meeting with chairmen of political parties in the state.
He said without the PVC no voter will be allowed to vote.
He said, “Plateau State INEC had successful registration of over 500,000 electorate between April 2017 and August, 2018, out of which 150,000 have so far collected their PVCs, while the remaining 309,000 are yet to be collected.”
Pai also said INEC will go extra mile to move from local government headquarters to registration areas for the distribution of the remaining PVCs.
He urged the political parties to ensure that electorates collect their PVCs before the election, saying INEC will not use the incident form during the 2019 general elections.
He said, “Cards readers will perform better, adding that there will be no more card readers’ failure in 2019”.
He also advised all the political parties to be peaceful during their campaigns ,urging them to properly inform INEC on dates, venues and times of their campaigns to enable the commission monitor the exercise as was done during the primaries.
