The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Mahmood Yakubu, has warned that the Commission will not condone distribution of Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) by proxy.
Professor Yakubu also termed as “not encouraging” the low level of collection of the remaining 7.8 million uncollected PVCs across the country.
The INEC Chairman stated this yesterday during a quarterly meeting with Resident Electoral Officers (RECs) at the INEC Headquarters, Abuja.
He disclosed that the Commission would review its existing partnership with State Independent Electoral Commission’s (SIECS), to ensure PVCs were properly distributed and were received by their rightful owners well ahead of the Local Government Area (LGA) elections in the states.
He pointed out that the PVCs had to be distributed “in a manner that places INEC squarely in charge of the delivery of the PVCs no delivery of the PVCs by proxy, it has to be delivered to the true owners by us”.
Some of the issues discussed at the meeting include: outstanding elections from 2015; preparations for Anambra governorship election; uncollected PVCs; forthcoming Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise; and new ICT initiatives by the Commission.
The INEC Chairman had explained the Commission’s reason for the early release of the dates for the 2019 general elections.
He said that this was to enable the Commission and stakeholders plan properly as well as to avoid uncertainty.
“We did it basically in order to plan properly.
“We cannot continue to be masters of the last minute. We cannot continue to be masters of the fire brigade.
“As our democracy matures, we should be moving from uncertainty to certainty and once the dates for the next general elections are fixed, it is easier for all of us to plan.
“The Electoral Commission requires time to plan, the media and all other stakeholders also require time to plan”, he said.
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