The Independent National Electoral Commission has revealed that a total of 2,128,288 Permanent Voters Cards have been collected by registered voters in Edo State since February 2023.
The commission’s National Commissioner in charge of Edo State, Professor Rhoda H. Gumsus, disclosed this on Thursday at a stakeholders’ engagement meeting on the continuous voters registration exercise in preparation for the September 21 governorship election in Edo State in Benin City.
Gumsus, represented by the state Resident Electoral Commissioner, Anugbum Onuoha, said the collected PVCs were out of the total number of 2,501,08 million registered voters in the state. Additionally, she revealed that a total of 373,030 PVCs remained uncollected.
The commissioner explained that the continuous voter registration exercise had commenced on June 28, 2021, but was suspended on July 31, 2022, to prepare for the 2023 general election. This suspension, she stated, was in line with Section 9(6) of the 2022 Electoral Act, which allows the commission to stop registration, updating, and revision of the voter register not later than 90 days before any election.
Gumsus noted that almost two years had passed since the CVR exercise was suspended, and many young persons must have turned 18 during this period. She emphasized the need to update the voter register to allow these individuals to participate in the forthcoming election, as well as to accommodate those who had not registered before or wished to transfer their registration to a new location.
“The CVR exercise is proposed for 10 days, commencing on May 27 and ending on June 5, 2024. This will give prospective registrants enough time to register before the governorship election. Similarly, registered voters will have the opportunity to transfer their registration from other states of the federation to Edo or from one location to another within the state,” she said.
She appealed to all stakeholders to join the commission in mobilizing prospective registrants to participate in the exercise.
Furthermore, the INEC National Commissioner encouraged those who had not yet collected their PVCs in the state to seize the opportunity to do so.
