Ondo Guber: INEC Begins Distribution of PVCs  Thursday 

Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja 

Ahead of the Ondo State governorship election, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has announced that the collection of Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs) in all the 203 wards of the state will commence on Thursday.

INEC National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Sam Olumekun, in a statement Monday appealed to registered voters in the state to pick up their PVCs in person on the approved dates. 

The commission reiterated its policy that no cards would be collected by proxy.

Olumekun said: “The PVCs for all categories of applicants will be available for collection in 221 centres across the state at two levels. 

“First, in all the 203 wards from Thursday, 17th to Monday, 21st October 2024. Secondly, in our 18 LGA offices from Wednesday, 23rd to Tuesday, 29th October 2024 from 9.00am to 5.00pm daily (including weekends).”

The commission stressed that during the period, the backlog of uncollected PVCs from previous registrations would also be available for collection at the designated centres.

Olumekun added that the commission was pleased to announce that following the conclusion of the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) in Ondo State and the cleaning up of the data, PVCs have been printed for all certified registrants and already delivered to the commission’s state office in Akure for collection by eligible voters.

According to him, “A total of 89,777 new PVCs from the recent CVR were printed. This is made up of 58,708 new voters, and 31,069 applicants for transfers, updates and replacement of lost and damaged PVCs.

“The PVCs for all categories of applicants will be available for collection in 221 centres across the state at two levels. First, in all the 203 wards from Thursday 17th to Monday 21st October 2024. Secondly, in our 18 LGA offices from Wednesday 23rd to Tuesday 29th October 2024 from 9.00am to 5.00pm daily (including the weekends).”

Olumekun stated that detailed information, including location addresses of the ward and local government collection centres, has been uploaded on its website and social media platforms for public information.

He said in addition to pasting the register of new voters for each centre at the designated locations, the commission was also uploading the entire collection register for the new voters on its website to facilitate easy identification of names and collection centres for the seamless collection of the PVCs.