Abuja -The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) said it would commence distribution of Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) to registered voters in Edo State on Friday ahead of Sept. 10 governorship elections.
Deputy Director, Voter Education and Publicity at the commission, Mr Nick Dazang, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday in Abuja.
Dazang said that the distribution of the cards would be done from Friday to Sunday at Registration Areas and Wards across the state “for registered voters who are yet to obtain the PVC’’.
“The distribution of PVC in Edo is tentatively and provisionally scheduled from Sept. 2 to Sept. 4.
“This will afford the voters who have not collected their PVCs the opportunity to exercise their civic rights in the governorship election scheduled for Sept. 10,’’ Dazang said.
He, however, advised registered voters in the state, including those that were registered in the recent exercise, to ensure that they collected the cards within the stipulated period.
On preparation for the election, Dazang said that the commission was “fully ready’’ to conduct free, fair and credible poll in the state.
He said that while the commission had already distributed the non-sensitive materials, the sensitive items would be moved from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) vault in Benin to the commission’s office for distribution on Wednesday.
He assured that smart card readers would be distributed in time and well charged ahead for effective performance during polling.
On security during the exercise, the director said that INEC had been meeting with security agencies under the platform of Inter- Agency Committee on Election Security (ICES).
According to him, the security committee is working to ensure a secured election environment.
“We are also having our final stakeholders meeting in Benin on Wednesday, to be addressed by the Chairman of INEC and the Inspector-General of Police as part of efforts to ensure that the election is peaceful,’’ he said.(NAN)