2023: Kwara Gov’t Declares Friday Work-free For PVC Registration

All civil servants in Kwara State have been asked to take a one-day break from work to enable them to register and retrieve their Permanent Voter Cards (PVC) in preparation for the 2023 general elections.

Naija News reports that Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq on Thursday (today) declared Friday, July 29, 2022, a work-free day for government officials in the state to accomplish the mission.

The governor’s directive was contained in a statement signed by his Chief Press Secretary, Rafiu Ajakaye.

Ajakaye said that the holiday comes as the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) closes the continuous voter registration exercise on July 31, next week Monday.

“His Excellency urges the people of Kwara State, especially the civil servants, to take full advantage of the holiday to perform their civic duty of registering to vote”, the terse statement said.

INEC Can’t Do Much About Vote Buying

Ahead of the 2023 general elections and in response to critics about vote-buying during elections in Nigeria, INEC on Wednesday said the commission’s official duty is to prepare for and conduct polls and not to monitor criminals during polls.

The electoral body said there is a limit to what it can do in terms of ending the act of vote buying during elections in Nigeria.

Speaking in defence of the commission, INEC Commissioner for the North Central (Niger, Kogi and Kwara States), Prof. Mohammed Sani Adam said vote buying is a national issue, a sociological problem which is targeted at jeopardizing the process of credible elections in the country.

Adam made the assertions in Minna, Niger State capital during a visit to monitor the ongoing voter registration exercise in the state, Naija News reports.