.Says 91% of registered PVCs collected
By Ummi Ismaeel,
Minna
Countdown to the general elections scheduled to commence next Saturday, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has said that it was keeping eyes on political parties and politicians in Niger State with a view to ensuring strict compliance with minimal spending on campaigns.
But out of a total of 22, 588 Permanent Voters’ Card (PVC) that were yet to be collected in the state, six percent of the number were carry-over from the 2014 electoral processes. The state Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Professor Sam Egwu, disclosed this.
Egwu, while giving update ahead of the commencement of the general elections in Minna, however, said that the good news was that “91 percent of the entire PVCs had been collected by their owners”.
The REC also said that a total of 22, 034 Ad-hoc staff serving as Supervising Presiding Officers (SPOs) and Collection Officers were engaged from Niger state to ensure successful election which has about 31 registered political parties participating.
Egwu, who however did not rule out the possibility that more people will come forward to claim their PVCs before the elections, said, “As at today I can confirm that we have 2, 168, 965 eligible voters to vote in the coming elections in the state”.
Meanwhile, INEC has commenced monitoring of financial expenses by the two major political parties; the main opposition People Democratic Party (PDP) and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to ensure compliance with the 2019 electoral rules.
