2023: Ekiti INEC Says 234,037 PVCs Are Yet To Be Collected

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has disclosed that about 234,037 Permanent Voter Cards (PVC) are yet to be collected in Ekiti State.

Naija News reports that the new INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in the state Prof. Ayobami Salami, made this revelation in Ado Ekiti during a visit to the Nigeria Union of Journalists Secretariat in the area.

According to him, 754,886 out of a total of 988,923 registered voters in the state have collected their PVCs, the figure he said represented 24% of registration in the state.

Salami’s revelation comes even as a political economist and management specialist, Pat Utomi asserted that there were about 9.3 million uncollected PVCs still in INEC offices across the federation, with less than 100 days to the 2023 elections.

The new Ekiti INEC commissioner said “Preparatory to the forthcoming 2023 general elections in Ekiti, let me state that INEC has 16 local government areas, 177 Registration areas, and 2,445 polling units to deal with.

“We have a total number of 988,923 registered voters out of which 754,886 voters have collected their PVCs, while 234,037, representing 24%, are yet to collect their PVCs.”

Salami, who spoke about the court’s directive for INEC to continue with the registration of voters noted that “INEC would comply whenever the court judgement is served. But we are yet to be served. As law abiding commission, we will abide by it.”

He also cleared the insinuation that technological innovation invented by INEC may be jettisoned for the conduct of the 2023 polls, saying the Bimodal Voters Assessment System and the INEC Result Viewing Portal would be fully applied in all elections.

Naija News gathered that Salami, while appealing to registered voters to break away from the culture of long-standing apathy submitted that “As part of our preparations, INEC had on 12th November 2022 commenced a nationwide display of preliminary claims and objections, which shall end on the 25th November 2022.

“Therefore, I want to use this medium to call on registered voters to visit our local government headquarters to actively participate in the exercise using our online link”.
He also urged the Ekiti people to come out to collect their PVCs and participate actively in the 2023 general elections.”

The INEC commissioner also assured that the commission would build on the success recorded in the June 18, 2022 governorship election in Ekiti, and other past polls adjudged to be transparent and acceptable.