The nationwide collection of Permanent Voter Cards ended on Sunday with the Independent National Electoral Commission silent on the possibility of further extending the exercise.
INEC had earlier announced an extension of PVC collection which was initially scheduled to end on January 29, 2023, to February 5, 2023.
The INEC commissioner in charge of voter registration, Festus Okoye, who announced the extension in a statement released in Abuja, noted that the decision was taken after due deliberations with Resident Electoral Commissioners across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.
On Sunday, our correspondent reached out to the Chief Press Secretary to the INEC chairman, Rotimi Oyekanmi, on whether the commission will still announce an extension given the huge number of PVCs yet to be collected in states.
He is, however, yet to respond to inquiries as of the time of filing this report.
Our correspondent reported that 522,000 PVCs remain uncollected in Edo State as of February 3, 2023.
The state INEC Voter Education Officer, Timidi Wariowie, who made this known, noted that the uncollected PVCs comprised new and old ones.
In Abia state, the INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner, Prof Ike Uzochukwu, noted that over 200,000 PVCs remained uncollected as of February 3, 2023.
In Oyo State, the REC, Adeniran Tella, said over 800,000 PVCs remained in the custody of INEC as of February 1, 2023.
Also in Nasarawa State, the REC, Uthman Ajidagba, noted that 9,710 PVCs remained with the commission as of February 4, 2023.
Further findings by our correspondent also revealed that Enugu State had over 200,000 uncollected PVCs as of January 25, 2023.
At the Federal Capital Territory, it was gathered that 309,188 PVCs remained uncollected as of February 4, 2023.
Source: The Punch
