Dr joseph Chukwuemeka Chukwu, INEC- Resident Electoral Commissioner, Ebonyi- State
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Ebonyi has announced that the commission was still having a total of 127,424 unclaimed Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) in its custody as at March 15, 2022.
Dr Joseph Chukwuemeka, INEC’s Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), in Ebonyi disclosed this at a news briefing on Wednesday in Abakaliki.
According to him, the uncollected PVCs which were retrieved from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) have been deposited at the various INEC local government offices for easy collection by their owners.
He noted that collection of the Voter cards should be by their owners who must show proof of ownership before collection.
“The Voter card is an important document and must not be given by proxy. I enjoin our voters who registered in 2018 but are yet to collect their PVCs to go to INEC LGA headquarters for identification and collection.
“It is the voter card that qualifies an electorate to vote, therefore, I urge those who are yet to collect to go to INEC LGA offices where they registered to collect their own,” chukwuemeka said.
The commission also gave a breakdown of the status of the unclaimed PVCs according to the 13 LGAs in Ebonyi with Abakaliki LGA having the highest number of 42,816 uncollected PVCs.
The REC noted that Afikp North, Afikpo South and Ebonyi LGAs had 7,550, 3,011, 37,127 respectively while Ezza North; Ezza South, Ikwo, Ishielu and Ivo LGAs had 3,026, 2,085, 9,836, 2,446 and 3,124 unclaimed PVCs respectively.
He further noted that the number of unclaimed PVCs in Izzi; Ohaozara, Ohaukwu and Onicha LGAs stood at 4,969, 1,885, 6,620 and 3,202 respectively.
The REC described as ‘fake’ the news circulating that that the current PVCs had expired and wouldn’t be used in the 2023 general elections and urged the public to discountenance the rumour.
“I want to stress again that PVCs issued by INEC do not expire as no expiry date is written on the cards,” he added.
On the status of ongoing Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise, he said that a total of 189, 645 persons had been captured in Ebonyi since the exercise nation-wide exercise began in June 28, 2021.
“We have captured as at Tuesday, March 15 no fewer than 189,645 eligible voters in the ongoing CVR exercise.
“The number comprises registrations done in the first, second and third quarters of the exercise and we are making huge progress,” the REC announced.
Chukwuemeka said that additional 16 INEC Voter Enrollment Device (IVED) had been deployed to complement the 15 machines earlier deployed for the exercise in the state.
“Prior to the commencement of the third quarter CVR exercise, registrations were restricted to LGA offices and INEC state headquarters.
“I am pleased to announce that approval has been given for registration to be carried out at Registration Areas/Ward levels on structured movement of the IVED.
“The machines are moved from one RA/ward to another in each LGA on weekly basis since the 31 enrollment machines are not enough to cover the 171 registration areas/wards in the state.
“We implore stakeholders from the various registration areas/wards in the state to find out when the machine will move to their area in order to mobilise prospective registrants.
“We also urge the people to shun double registration so as not to disqualify themselves from voting in the 2023 elections,” he added.
