Mr Adekunle Olokode, Chairman, Harmony Community Development Association (CDA), Sabo, Ikorodu, Lagos State, has urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to collaborate with CDAs and other groups to ensure collection of Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs).
Olokode, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) at the End-of-the-Year party of the CDA, that many registered voters had not been given their PVCs at the designated places by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
NAN reports that it has been in the news lately that many PVCs are at designated places for collection across the states.
For instance, it has been reported that 688, 972 PVCs were yet to be collected by the rightful owners in Kano State.
The community leader, therefore, urged INEC to collaborate more with CDAs and credible election advocacy groups as well as traditional leaders across Nigeria to enhance voter education.
“Every potential group, institution or association must be brought on board the fight against every act that aims to spoil the polls for us and cause chaos in the country,’’ he said.
Olokode said the success of the 2019 general elections depended on massive participation of the electorate and as such, there was need to ensure that all PVCs were collected by their rightful owners.
He also appealed to residents of his community and others to collect their PVCs to enable them vote in the forthcoming general elections.
Olokode said a situation where many voters could not exercise their franchise due to none availability of their PVCs was likely to undermine the credibility of the 2019 general elections.
“INEC must be double sure it supplies all PVCs to designated offices for the owners to collect them.
“It is extremely important that INEC collaborates with relevant agencies of government to ensure 90 per cent of registered voters get to vote,’’ said Olokode. (NAN)