The Independent National Electoral Commission announced on Tuesday that out of 2,629,025 registered voters in Edo State, 2,249,780 Permanent Voter’s Cards have been collected ahead of the governorship election on September 21, 2024.
The National Commissioner and Chairman of the Information and Voter Education Committee, Sam Olumekun, disclosed this in a statement.
He noted that the collected PVCs represent 85.57 per cent of the total, with 379,245 PVCs, or 14.43 per cent still uncollected as of the extended deadline on Sunday, September 15, 2024.
The statement reads: “Nigerians may recall that the Commission recently announced that the total number of registered voters in Edo State is 2,629,025. Of this figure, 2,249,780 (85.57 per cent) have collected their Permanent Voter’s Cards, while 379,245 (14.43 per cent) of the PVCs remain uncollected as of the end of the extended period for PVC collection on Sunday, 15 September 2024.
“Consequently, the Commission is providing data on PVC collection on a Polling Unit basis in Edo State ahead of the governorship election this weekend. There are 4,519 Polling Units in the state. Voting will take place in each unit. The detailed breakdown of the number of PVCs collected, as well as the number uncollected in each unit, has been uploaded to our website for the guidance of political parties, candidates, and the public.
“Any citizen interested in the 128-page document can visit our website: https://inecnigeria.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/PU-LEVEL-FOR-PVC-COLLECTED-FOR-2024-EDO-GOVERVORSHIP-ELECTION.pdf,” the statement read.
INEC commenced the collection of PVCs by newly registered voters from 22 to 26 August 2024 at the ward level, after which collection moved to Local Government offices from 28 August to 8 September 2024.
The Commission later extended the deadline for PVC collection by three days following an appeal from stakeholders.
The extension ran from Friday, 13 September to Sunday, 15 September 2024, with collection hours set from 9 am to 5 pm daily at INEC offices across the state’s 18 Local Government Areas.
