21,651 PVC Yet to Be Collected in Akwa Ibom, Says INEC

Okon Bassey in Uyo

About 21,651 Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs) are yet to be claimed since the last voters’ registration exercise in Akwa Ibom State, the Administrative Secretary of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in the state, Mr. Owhor Nathan) has disclosed.

 Owhor made the disclosure thursday during a stakeholders’ meeting on the commencement of another round of Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) by the Commission in the state.

The Administrative Secretary persuaded those who had participated in the last exercise but were yet to claim their PVC to visit their offices across the 31 council areas of the state to collect it

He used the forum to call on prospective voters who could not register in the last exercise as well as those who had recently turned 18 to take advantage of the CVR to register for the their PVCs.

According to him, people eligible to participate in the process included voters who have Temporary Voters Cards (TVCs) and those seeking for transfer of registration due to relocation.

He explained that “for citizens to be eligible for fresh registration, they must reside, work in or originate from the registration area covered by the registration area centre they intend to register in.

“They must not be subjected to legal incapacity to vote under any law, rules or regulations in force in Nigeria. They must present themselves to the CVR officers for registration and be able to provide proof of Identity, age and nationality if requested”.

The National Commissioner supervising the South-South zone, Mr. Mohammed Lecky, had earlier called on voters to come out on their own, to participate in the exercise as no registration would be allowed on proxy.

Lecky who was represented by the Administrative Secretary, Nathan warned against multiple registrations in the current registration process, threatening that anyone caught would be made to face the law.

To ensure a successful conduct of the registration exercise, he posited that a team of four registration area officers and a distribution officer would be mobilised at the 31 local government area offices in the state.

His words: “the team will have two Direct Data Capturing Machines (DDCMs), one for data capture and the other will be used as back-up. A laptop will also be provided to host the current national register of voters in a searchable PDF format.

“The preliminary register of voters will be displayed for the public scrutiny at the registration centres at the end of every quarter before the printing of the PVCs commenced,” he added.