The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) has said 18,000 Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) are yet to be collected in Abaji Area Council.
The Resident Electoral Commissioner in charge of the FCT, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, disclosed this during a meeting with stakeholders at the Abaji Council Secretariat Conference Hall on Thursday.
He said the council had so far registered 112,261 voters, but that over 18,000 PVCs were yet to be collected.
He, therefore, called on the chairman of the council, Alhaji Abdulrahman Ajiya, and traditional rulers in the area to sensitise the people on the need to collect their PVCs before the 2019 general elections.
“It was as a result of this that I decided to embark on a sensitisation programme across the six area councils to create awareness at the grassroots on the need for people to collect their PVCs,” he said.
According to him, INEC would not want to continue to keep the PVCs since it was not the one that would be voting.
Bello further said the distribution of PVCs would continue until one week to the general elections, while registration would be suspended as from August 17, 2018, until after the 2019 general elections.
He said the development was to enable the commission produce more cards for the general elections, and assured those who registered before the suspension that they would get their cards before the general elections.
The chairman of the council, Alhaji Abdulrahman Ajiya, commended INEC officials for embarking on sensitisation across the area councils, and pledged his administration’s readiness to provide all logistic support to its officials in the area
Meanwhile, residents of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) have been urged to collect their PVCs ahead of the 2019 general elections.
The member representing AMAC/ Bwari Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, Mr. Zephaniah Bitrus Jisalo, made the call on Friday in Kuje while on a tour and empowerment programme in the six area councils of the FCT.
Jisalo, who is also an FCT senate aspirant on the platform of the APC, said he decided to embark on the tour to sensitise the electorate that their vote was their power.
