By Emmanuel Oloniruha
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says a total of 87,209,007 Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) have been collected across the 36 States of the federation and the FCT.
The INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, revealed this in “The summary of registered voters and PVCs collected for 2023 general elections”, released to newsmen on Thursday in Abuja.
The number of collected PVCs, according to INEC, represents 93.3 per cent of 93,469,008 total registered voters.
It also revealed that the total number of uncollected PVCs was 6,259,229, representing 6.7 per cent.
The documents revealed that Lagos has the highest number of collected PVC with 6,214,970, follow by Kano with 5,594,193, Kaduna with 4,164,473 and Katsina with 3,459,945.
Yakubu told the newsmen that the full details of the collected and uncollected PVCs per PU would be made available on the Commission’s portal.
He assured that INEC is adequately prepared for the election, including delivery of logistics.
“This election is a huge logistical deployment. We have painstakingly procured, organised and delivered all the materials to the states for deployment.
“We commenced the delivery of non-sensitive materials over two months ago and they have been batched down to Registration Area/Ward and Pulling Unit levels.
“Sensitive materials have been delivered to the states and are now being delivered to our Local Government Area offices.
“As such, these materials are only between one and two levels away from the Polling Units.”
He said that INEC achieved that by learning from its recent difficult experience with logistics.
“We have completed arrangements with the transport unions for the final leg of the movement of personnel and materials to the Polling Units.
“They have assured us of their readiness to provide all the vehicular needs of the Commission for the election.”
He expressed satisfaction with security assurance from security agencies for the conduct of the elections.
“In the build-up to the general election, several of our facilities were attacked by unknown assailants in various parts of the country.
“I am pleased that we have fully recovered from those attacks, and we have been further assured that our facilities, staff, voters, observers, and citizens will be safe during the election,” Yakubu said.
He also disclosed that INEC has printed 1,642,385 identification cards for political party agents, and have handed them over to parties for onward distribution.
Yakubu also gave an update on its consultation with the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) on the fuel situation and the fuel needed for transportation and its generators during the election.
“We are pleased that the NNPC Limited assured us that it will ensure availability of the products for the polls.
“Likewise, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has assured us that it will provide us with the small amount of cash we require from our budget for cash payment to some critical service providers for the election.
“I must reiterate that the bulk of payment for works, goods and services are still paid for by electronic transfer.”
Fielding questions from newsmen, Yakubu denied the insinuation that its Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) could be preloaded.
“There is nothing like preloaded BVAS. In fact the BVAS are configured to start working at 8.30am and to work within a range of time.”
On the murdered Labour Party (LP) Senatorial Candidate for Enugu East, Enugu State, Oyibo Chukwu, Yakubu said the commission is yet to receive official communication from the party.
“The law provides for countermanding the election for two weeks but as we speak INEC has not received any official notice to the death of the candidate.”
He said that while INEC had adequate security measure in place to secure its portal, it would continue to fortify the website or portal against possible attack.
Yakubu appealed to citizens to continue to be sensitive on what they post on election, especially the results.
He advised those that may wish to peddle fake results or announce results before its declaration by the commission to respect the law which provides that only INEC has the power to announce election results. (NAN)
