The Chairman of the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC), Mahmood Yakubu, has disclosed that plans have been made to mop up some of the uncollected Permanent Voters Cards, PVCs, across the 18 Local Government Areas of Edo state.
Yakubu who disclosed this in Benin, during a stakeholder meeting ahead of the Edo State governorship election said, the PVCs which are going to be mopped up by the commission, would be warehoused in the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) until after the governorship election.
The INEC Chairman said Edo State now has a total of 2,629,025 registered voters, adding that in their commitment to transparency, the Commission has made available soft copies of the entire register of voters to each political party fielding candidates in the forthcoming election.
Yakubu said in the next few days, the commission will publish the detailed breakdown of PVCs collected for each of the 4,519 Polling Units across the State.
While appealing that all hands must be on deck to make the job of conducting elections easy, he said election is a multi-stakeholder activity and that INEC has a role to play but this must be complemented by stakeholders.
He noted that the 2024 Edo State Governorship election is not just a national election, it is also of global interest, pointing out that the Commission has so far accredited 134 groups (124 domestic and 10 international) deploying 1,836 observers across the State.
The INEC boss maintained that the commission has made arrangements for land and maritime transportation of personnel and materials.
Yakubu said that the commission has arranged for the delivery of sensitive materials for the election to Edo State early next week just as he said that they will be inviting political parties and other stakeholders for the usual inspection of the materials at the Central Bank here in Benin ahead of the delivery to the Local Government Areas.
He said that the commission is leaving no stone unturned in its preparations for the election, always in consultation with the stakeholders.
He however urged the political parties to play their own part positively in delivering yet another credible governorship election in the state.
