MAKURDI – The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Benue, on Monday, said it distributed 1.3 million Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) out of the 1.95 million cards it collected from INEC headquarters in Abuja.
The INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner in Benue, Prof. Istifinus Dafwang, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Makurdi that the total number of registered voters in the state was 2.01 million.
He said the extension of the PVC collection was a blessing for the Commission, stressing that “as at Feb. 14 when the general elections was supposed to take place, PVC distribution in Benue was 76 per cent.’’
The commissioner disclosed that the Commission was still expecting 30,000 PVCs for polling units hitherto designated zero units at the time of registration.
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He said the expected PVCs would cover some of the polling units that registered above 500 voters but had less than 15 PVCs at the time of initial distribution.
Dafwang, however, regretted that there were still 3,340 uncollected PVCs belonging to Okpokwu Local Government Council of the state and appealed to them to pick up their cards before the election dates.
He expressed optimism that the balance of 30,000 cards would be received and distributed to the affected polling units before the commencement of the elections to enable such voters to exercise their franchise.
The INEC commissioner called on the people of the state to take advantage of the remaining 13 days for PVC collection to collect their cards.
He said the Commission had trained more than 20,000 ad hoc staff and provided voter education to millions of electorate on election guidelines.
He said the Commission had received all non sensitive materials for the elections and deployed them to local government councils ahead of the exercise. (NAN)
