ABUJA – The Resident Electoral Commissioner of the Federal Capital Territory, Dr Godwin Kwanga, said on Thursday that the Permanent Voter Cards (PVC) for FCT residents were ready for distribution.
Kwanga, who made this known at a news conference in Abuja, said that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) would conduct Continuous Registration of Voters (CRV) in the territory.
He said that the distribution of the cards would begin on Friday and end on Sunday, while the continuous registration of voters would begin on Aug. 20 and end on Aug. 25.
“The continuous registration of voters is going to take place not in the polling units, but at the ward level.
“The distribution of permanent voter cards will take place at the polling units, while the continuous voter registration is going to take place at the ward level and there are 62 wards in the FCT.
“Other area councils have 10 each and Abuja Municipal Area Council has 12.
“So the continuous registration of voters is going to take place in those 62 locations and it will last from Aug. 15 to Aug. 17.“
The resident electoral commissioner said that the electorate would only be allowed to use the permanent voter cards to exercise their franchise during the 2015 general elections. [eap_ad_2] “Distribution of permanent voter cards is very important to us because, these are the cards that are going to be used in 2015 general elections.
“Temporary voter cards will not be used for the elections in 2015,“ he stated.
Kwanga, therefore, advised residents of FCT to use the temporary voter cards issued to them earlier to collect their permanent voter cards at the venue they were given the temporary cards.
He said that cards would not be issued by proxy.
The Commissioner of Police in FCT, Mr Joseph Mbu, gave an assurance that the command would provide security to ensure hitch-free permanent voter cards distribution and continuous registration of voters.
“Our duty, as usual, is to provide security to all the wards to ensure that the exercise is carried out peacefully knowing too well the importance of the elections coming up this year and next year.
“The public should also know about all the electoral offences beginning from section 117 of the Electoral Act to section 131 as the penalties are very stiff,“ Mbu said.[eap_ad_3]