- As uncollected PVCs litter Ogun, Rivers, Imo, Adamawa, Benue, Sokoto, 30 other states
- Nigerians cry out over unnecessary difficulties, slow process, inability to locate wards
- Accuse INEC staff of favouritism, taking bribes from voters seeking PVCs
- PVC distribution ongoing at electoral wards –INEC
From Olakunle Olafioye (Lagos), Rose Ejembi (Makurdi), Olayiwola Olanrewaju (Ilorin), Abdulrazaq Mungadi (Gombe), Gyang Bere (Jos), Paul Osuyi (Asaba), Geoffrey Anyanwu (Awka), Billy Graham Abel (Yola), Mohammed Munirat Nasir (Gusau), George Onyejiuwa (Owerri), Clement Adeyi (Osogbo), Raphael Ede (Enugu), Laide Raheem (Abeokuta), Tony John (Port Harcourt), Obinna Odogwu (Abakaliki), Chuks Onuoha (Umuahia) and Tunde Omolehin (Sokoto)
With just few weeks left before the start of the 2019 general elections, there is serious concern that over 5.6 million registered voters may be disenfranchised as they are yet to obtain their Permanent Voters’ Card (PVC), which the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) began the distribution last year.
This concern became amplified when the INEC National Commissioner in-charge of Niger, Kaduna and Plateau states, Prof. Anthonia Simbine, alerted that millions of PVCs were yet to be collected across the country.
Several reasons have been adduced for the huge number of uncollected PVCs. Among these are the slow process of attending to registered voters at the collection centres, long distances the voters have to travel from the their residences to where they originally registered, difficulties in locating their wards and the Nigerian factor allegedly introduced by some unscrupulous junior INEC staff, who, it was said, ask for gratification before giving the cards, knowing that most people only want to use the PVCs as valid identification cards for bank and official transactions, pending the availability of the new national identity card.
To enable registered voters to collect their PVCs, INEC staffers have been distributing the PVCs at ward level across the country. The exercise will end tomorrow.
Thereafter, the commission said that PVC distribution at ward level ends tomorrow, although the exercise would continue at the headquarters of each local government area or LCDA (local council development area) until February 8, eight days before the presidential election on February 16.
The commission enjoined all registered voters to endeavour to collect their PVCs, to enable them vote on the days scheduled for elections and thereby elect leaders that would transform the country.
The National Commissioner, INEC, supervising Niger, Kaduna and Plateau states, Prof. Anthonia Simbine, said that millions of PVCs were yet to be collected across the country.
BENUE
About 1.9 million registered eligible voters have collected their permanent voters card (PVC) in Benue State. The Resident Electoral Commissioner in the state, Nentawe Yilwatda, who disclosed this journalists in Benue, however, stated that over 600,000 PVCs were yet to be collected.
The records of INEC show that 2,478,608 million voter were duly registered.
To ensure completion of distribution of the PVCs, Yilwatda said that the remaining cards would be taken to the various wards so that their owners can collect them, over a six-day period that stated on Wednesday. The REC said the six-day strategy has been mapped out by the commission to ensure that people come forward to collect their PVCs.
The REC noted that on the expiration of the six days, the PVCs would be taken to the local government secretariats for continued collection until February 8, a few days to the election when the process would cease.
KWARA
Registered voters in Kwara State are yet to collect 242,000 PVCs even as INEC has determined that 1, 406,457 residents of the state are eligible to vote in the 1,872 polling units in the state during the forthcoming general elections.
The Head, Voter Education and Publicity at the INEC office in the state, Mr Jacob Ayanda, told Sunday Sun that between 2015 and August 2018, 980,425 PVCs were collected by registered voters.
He assured that officials of INEC in the state would double efforts to ensure that the bulk of the outstanding PVCs were distributed to their owners before the February elections.
He said: “Our men are in the field in the various wards, close to the registered voters to enable them collect the PVCs.”
A voter in Ilorin South Local Government Area, Ajide Ogunlade, lamented that the place where he registered to vote is too far from his ward, thereby making it difficult for him to go there to collect the PVCs.
Explaining his predicament, Ogunlade said: “I will have to pay a transport fee of N2,000 to get to the place where I will collect the PVC. You might get there and the INEC officers would not be there to attend to us.”
He, however, promised to collect his PVC before the time runs out.
In the interim, the homes of traditional rulers are being used to distribute the PVCs to eligible, registered voters. Also, both INEC and the National Orientation Agency, NOA, have been using radio jingles to sensitise the people on the modalities for collecting the PVCs.
GOMBE
The number of registered voters in Gombe, according to the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Alhaji Umar Ibrahim, is 288,012. Of this number, 191,330 of them are yet to collect their PVCs.
The REC said in an interview with Sunday Sun that the INEC office in the state received 280,508 PVCs from the national headquarters, but only 89,178 had been collected by the owners as at the time of filing this report.
He also revealed that about 70 per cent of the PVCs (59,631) were collected by male voters. Women had so far collected only about 29,000 PVCs.
He attributed the low turnout of women to collect their PVCs as a major challenge confronting the commission in the state.
Calling on female voters to come out and collect their PVCs, he said: “We don’t want a situation when we have tow, three days before we temporarily suspend the collection for election, people will start rushing and mobbing us for the PVCs.”
He added that the commission would organize an interactive session with traditional rulers and religious leaders in the state, to seek their assistance in mobilizing women on need to collect their PVCs.
At Malam Kuri Primary School in Pantami community of Gombe Local Government, Gombe State, where voters queued up to collect their PVCs, some of them called on INEC to improve on the process, to enable all registered citizens get their PVCs, to vote in the February polls.
One of the voters, Mubarak Abdullahi, bemoaned the process, which he described as cumbersome, saying that it was a discouragement to many voters who have come forward to collect the PVCs.
“I spent the whole day waiting when I went to the place. I was disappointed and, in fact, when I was told to come back the next day. It was only one person from INEC that was attending to us. There were many people that day and more people were yet to come,” Abdullahi said.
Another registered female voter, Maman Lami, 50, who could not withstand the struggle to collect the PVCs said that her only hope would be to send her son to queue and collect the PVC for her if she would not wait till after the election.
“After the election, the queue would not be much then. When I went to the collection centre, people fought to collect the PVC. Even when I went back the next day, the situation was the same,” she explained.
For voters in Tumfure and Lafiyawo communities who registered at Shongo Idrisa Primary School in Akko Local Government Area (LGA), the 20-to-40 kilometer journey to collect their PVCs in Kumo, the headquarters of the LGA, is a traumatic experience.
Deborah Manzo expressed her frustration thus: “If INEC does not bring our cards here that means I will not vote, because traveling to Kumo for PVC is not what I can afford now.”
Talatu Abdullahi, who was also on the queue at Malam Kuri Primary School said: “I learnt that a lot of people were waiting to collect their cards; that was why I rushed out as early as 6:00a.m to get to the centre.”
On his part, Sulaiman Isah, had been moving from one centre to the other for more than two months and yet had not been able to get the PVC. The frustrated Isah said: “I even went to INEC’s office, but I was told to come back after one month, because my card had not been brought to Gombe.”
Gombe REC, Ibrahim, told Sunday Sun that the distribution going on at the headquarters of the 11 LGAs would be extended to the wards, to ensure that every card received would be given out to the owner before the election.
PLATEAU
Few weeks to the general elections starting from February 16, most registered voters in Plateau State are yet to get their PVCs even as 512,532 of the cards have been delivered to the INEC office in the state capital.
Of this number, only 169,093 cards have been collected so far. More troubling is the fact that many of the registered voters do not know where to get their PVCs.
The result is that 343,469 PVCs are still uncollected by registered voters in the state.
Plateau has a total of 2,480,455 registered voters. Half of this figure, 1,257,251 voters (50.69 per cent) are males while 1,223,204 voters (49.39 per cent) are females, as Sunday Sun gathered from the Resident Electoral Commissioner in the state, Mallam Hussaini Halilu Pai, who also said the IDPs in the state would be allowed to vote.
On why a huge number of PVCs were yet to be collected, a resident of Jos, the state capital, Julius Arabo, attributed the situation to the rocky and hilly terrain in Plateau State that makes it difficult for people to move about and access their PVCs.
He said that people would have to trek for more than 500 metres to designated distribution centres. This fact coupled with other factors have made it difficult for people to collect the PVCs.
Another resident, Sani Mudi, said that INEC should have brought the distribution centres close to the people, stating it would be difficult for the rural masses who are looking for what to eat to spend their money to transport themselves to the city or local government headquarters to collect PVCs.
DELTA
As has been seen in several other states, 450,498 voters in Delta State are yet to collect their PVCs, which would make them eligible to vote in the forthcoming elections. A total of 2,823,161 voters were registered in the state by INEC.
With first day of voting less than one month away, the Administrative Secretary of the commission in the state, Mr Felix Enabor, has been urging prospective voters to go to their respective wards to collect their PVCs.
Prior to commencement of distribution of PVCs at the ward level on January 16, 2019, Enabor said an interactive session was held with traditional rulers to sensitise them on the great need to mobilise their subjects to pick up their PVCs.
In addition to this effort, the commission embarked on public enlightenment campaigns held at market places, to inform where to collect their PVCs.
Even the state governor, Dr Ifeanyi Okowa, joined the drive to convince many more eligible and registered voters to make the needed effort to obtain the PVCs. During campaign rallies he held at the headquarters of local councils in Delta North Senatorial District, Okowa stressed that an impressive PVC collection would give rise to increase in the number of votes at the polls.
“There are still some voter’s cards that are yet to be collected. Please mobilize our people to utilise the window offered by INEC for everybody to collect their voter’s cards. We want every unit, ward, and every local government area to beat its previous record in delivery of votes,” he said.
Meanwhile, a cross section of prospective voters, especially civil servants in Asaba have applauded the initiative of INEC to give them another opportunity to pick up their PVCs, and urged the state government to declare a public holiday to facilitate collection of PVCs.
A breakdown of the total number of registered voters in the state council area by council area shows that Ughelli North, a stronghold of the APC has the highest number of registered voters with 199,262.
ANAMBRA
In Anambra State, there are still about 300,000 PVCs yet to be collected by prospective voters in the in state. The state made the highest percentage increase in voter registration across the country jumping from 1.7 million in 2016 to over 2.447 million.
With the new figure contained in the updated voters register recently released by the national headquarters of INEC, a total of 2.147 million PVCs have been collected.
The INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner, Dr Nkwachukwu Orji, who confirmed this, urged those who were yet to collect the PVCs to do so.
He said that the increase had helped to bridge the gap between the Southeast zone and other zones in the country in voter registration.
In view of the high number of PVCs yet to be collected, Nwachukwu urged voters in the state to take advantage of the ongoing distribution exercise at ward level to collect their PVCs.
Also, on other steps taken to motivate eligible voters, the Head, INEC Voter Education and Publicity in the state, Mr Leo Nkedife, told Sunday Sun: “People are being sensitized to collect their cards via the media, traditional rulers, outreaches to markets, CSOs and churches joined in the sensitization.”
Speaking on the apparent apathy towards collection of PVCs, a notable indigene of the state, Chief Ifeanyi Chukwudi blamed it on the lack of trust in the electoral process.
He said: “Many have lost faith in our elections and consider it a complete waste of time and energy going to vote because they have seen on several occasions that their votes do not count hence they decided to abandon their cards with INEC.”
Another registered prospective voter, Ifeoma Ejindu, confirmed that the churches have been sensitizing their members on the need to collect their PVCs and use them on the day of election to make their choices.
“I have heard several times in the church when the pastor encouraged members to go and collect their voter’s card. I have heard other people say that the same thing was announced in their churches,” Ejindu said.
Giving a different perspective to the seeming apathy among the people over collection of PVCs, Ikenna Uche said: “Some people are afraid of the IPOB people who are asking people not to participate in the 2019 election and some are afraid that the way things are going and the way the APC and PDP were talking tough the election may be very violent.”
ADAMAWA
About 430,000 PVCs, representing 22 per cent of 1,943, 000, the total number of registered voters in Adamawa State, are yet to be collected in the state.
To ensure the complete distribution of the PVCs to the registered owners, the Resident Electoral Commissioner, Kassim Gaidam, said that the commission had stepped up the exercise which is ongoing at the 226 wards in the state, with a view to beating the January 21 (tomorrow) deadline for distribution at ward level, after which the remaining PVCs would be moved to local council headquarters for further distribution to the eligible, registered voters.
Gaidam explained that the state INEC office had made preparations to capture about 81,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the state, to enable them vote during elections, saying: “We have identified IDP voting centres in Madagali town, Gulak and Shuwa. We had a stakeholders’ meeting with the community, the IDPs and the members of Operation Lafiya Dole who are in control of Madagali and Michika and the security report is far better than the one of 2015.
“Demsa, Numan and Lamurde are areas under observation because of the security situation there, recently we had some security concerns there, but the reports are more optimistic.”
Some residents of Adamawa State who explained to Sunday Sun why they were yet to collect their PVCs said that they either had difficulty in doing so or they were reluctant to stay on the queue because of the slow process.
Esther Babale, a resident of Yola, said that she registered in September 2018 and as at December, after several visits, the INEC office informed her that the cards were not yet ready.
She said: “I have not been participating in previous elections, but now I am ready to vote this year to choose the candidate of my choice.”
Another resident of Yola, Nadia Usman, said that her case was that of transfer of place of voting. Prior to this time, she resided outside the state, but later transferred her voting centre to Yola. “I hope to collect my card this week according to information I got from some INEC officials,” she said.
IMO
Barely four weeks to the start of the 2019 elections, prospective voters in Imo State numbering about 650,000 are yet to collect their PVCs. INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner, Prof Francis Chukwuemeka Ezeonu, who disclosed this also said that the state has 2,273,216 registered voters, 3,523 polling units and 4,752 voting points.
Ezeonu said that the commission had stepped up distribution of PVCs at the 305 electoral wards in the state in line with the directive given by the national headquarters of the commission, to ensure complete distribution of the PVCs before the expiry of the deadline for collection of the voter’s card.
The REC also appealed to politicians to educate the voters properly about the logos of their parties, assuring that INEC would similarly educate them on how to thumbprint properly.
Speaking on the lukewarm attitude of prospective voters to collect their PVCs, the Director of the Justice, Development, Peace and Caritas Commission of the Catholic Archdiocese of Owerri, Rev Fr. Gerald Njoku, said that the church has been telling the voters that the only way they could vote for their choice candidate is through the use of their PVCs.
He said that the church urged voters to endeavour to get the cards despite the inherent difficulties they may face in doing so.
“We challenge INEC to bring to bear more robust strategies to ensure that the Permanent Voters Cards get to the owners. The current position where over 650,000 voters cards are yet to be collected is totally unacceptable, and we appeal that all of us should work to ensure that a good percentage of Imo voters collect their voters cards,” the cleric said.
ZAMFARA
The Zamfara State office of INEC has distributed 1,559,593 PVCs to eligible voters for the forthcoming general elections. This was disclosed by the REC in the state, Dr Asma’u Sani Maikudi, in her office in Gusau.
She said that the state office received 1,678,593 PVCs from the commission’s headquarters out of which 119,354 cards were yet to be collected by the owners.
In furtherance of INEC’s efforts to make it easier for the owners of the cards to collect them, Maikudi said that distribution exercise was ongoing at the ward level.
OSUN
It is the same story in Osun State, where 428,446 PVCs were yet to be collected by their owners. To meet the deadline set by INEC headquarters, the Resident Electoral Commissioner, Mr Olusegun Agbaje, said that the commission’s staff in the state relocated to the wards to distribute the cards.
He advised people who were yet to collect their PVCs to do so, warning that only registered voters with valid PVCs would be allowed to cast their votes during the election, stressing: “No PVC, no voting.”
The commissioner, however, disclosed that a total of 1,253,484 PVCs had been distributed out of 1,681,930, leaving a total of 428,446 uncollected.
On why registered voters were not collecting their PVCs, Mr Adeyemi Adeyemo, told Sunday Sun that he was previously based in Kaduna where he registered. But when he relocated to Osun, his home state, he couldn’t collect his PVC up till now because it had been difficult for him to locate his assigned ward.
“I was new in Osogbo when I relocated from Kaduna. It was a friend of mine who took me there for transfer of registration. Since then, I have not been able to locate the place and I have not seen my friend to take me there. That is why I have been feeling reluctant, especially because I learnt that it involves a cumbersome process and stress to collect it. But I will endeavour to identify the ward and collect the card before the deadline expires. I seriously need the card,” Adeyemo said.
Mr Kunle Olayemi, a security officer said: “I go to work every day, including public holidays and weekends. That is why I have not been able to collect it. Last time, I took permission for about one hour to go and collect it, but I waited for two hours because of the long processes. On that day, the INEC officers couldn’t attend to me because people were plenty. To avoid being queried, I rushed back to work. That is why I have not collected it,” Olayemi said.
A market woman, Mrs Kemi Bamidele said: “Some INEC officers play partiality in attending to people who come to collect PVCs. During this last minute, people are rushing to collect. So, I discovered that the officers don’t attend to people on the basis of first come, first served. They look at faces and play partiality. Maybe they collect money before attending to people I don’t understand. Since I can’t tolerate that, I decided to abandon the PVC because I couldn’t wait endlessly since I have other things to do. But I will go there again to see if it will be easy now to collect it.”
A commercial bus driver, Mr Aderogba Adenrele said: “I went through a lot of stress to register. Now, to collect PVC is another wahala, because the process is too long. I travel a lot. That is why I don’t have time to go for it. Moreover, I don’t want to bother myself much because politicians don’t fulfill promises. I am discouraged. After going through all the stress, they won’t do anything to encourage voters.”
ENUGU
In Enugu State, 383,281 registered voters are yet to collect their PVCs, the Resident Electoral Commissioner in the state, Dr Ononamadu has said while also revealing that 1,559,495 PVCs had so far been distributed as at the time of filing this report.
The REC further disclosed that over 1.9 million voters were registered in the state and expressed the hope that the majority of those who had collected the PVCs would turn out en masse on the day of election to vote for the candidates of their choice.
He stated that certain LGAs had zero uncollected PVCs while some had high number of uncollected PVCs. Citing examples, he explained the reason: “In Enugu North, Enugu South and Enugu East and Nsukka, which have presence of tertiary institutions, we suspect that students who may have registered without collecting their PVCs have probably graduated and left. That is one possible reason for the high number of uncollected PVCs.”
He assured that INEC would sustain the effort to distribute the cards to the verified owners within the period of the ongoing process at ward levels.
OGUN
Whopping 900,165 PVCs are yet to be collected by registered voters out of the total number of 1,123,537 cards received by the INEC office in Ogun State. As at the time of filing this report, only 223,372 cards had been claimed by the owners.
Bemoaning the low turn-out of voters to collect their PVCs, the Administrative Secretary of INEC in the state, James Popoola, said that staff of the Commission had been deployed to various wards in the state to ensure more eligible voters collect the cards.
Speaking to Sunday Sun, a public servant, Morakinyo Adio, said that he had not been able to get his PVC despite the fact that he registered in 2015.
Though he recently learnt that his PVC was ready, Adio said that he was yet to obtain it.
To achieve this, Adio resolved to visit his ward in Ewekoro Local Government Area to collect his PVC, noting that the 2019 election is too important to be ignored.
In the same vein, Mrs Abiola Somuyiwa, a staff nurse, said that she would go to her ward in Abeokuta South Local Government Area to obtain it before the deadline expires.
RIVERS
In Rivers State, 2,530,000 PVCs have been collected out of the total number of 3,203,169 voters registered by INEC to exercise their franchise and elect leaders of their choice.
However, the Head of Voter Education and Publicity at the INEC office in the state, Edwin Enabor, said that only about 588,000 voters’ cards were yet to be collected by their owners.
Meanwhile, some Rivers residents, who spoke to Sunday Sun, alleged that they had gone to INEC’s head office along Aba Road, Port Harcourt, on several occasions, but were unable to collect their PVCs.
One of them, who gave his name simply as Johnson, said no one in the commission had given him a satisfactory answer why his PVC was not available many months after he was captured by INEC’s database.
LAGOS
With less than a month to the general elections, some Lagosians are at a loss over their participation in the election as they are yet to collect their PVCs. Some residents of the state who spoke to our correspondent said they were yet to know their status as far as the exercise is concerned.
A resident who identified herself as Mrs Olabisi Ganiu said she applied for transfer together with her husband having relocated from where they registered and voted in the previous elections but she claimed that she doesn’t know her status as she couldn’t find her name on the voters’ register displayed at her new location.
“My husband and I applied for transfer last year but when we went to check the voters register my name was not listed but my husband saw his. I have gone to the centre on several occasions to complain but there was nobody to attend to me as the INEC staff, who did the registration no longer come to the place. Similarly, my husband whose name appeared on the voters list has not been able to collect his PVC either,” she said.
At Tomia Secondary School, Kollington, Alagbado, Lagos, which serves as registration centre for residents of the area, a security personnel told one of our correspondents that no few than 200 people visited the venue on daily basis to make enquiries about their PVCs but there was nobody to give definite answers to their questions.
Meanwhile, the spokesperson of the Lagos office of INEC, Mr. Femi Akinbiyi, in a telephone chat with our correspondent said that the collection of PVC was restricted to INEC offices in the state for some time now. He, however, assured residents who wish to get their PVCs that they would get them where they were registered, during the ongoing distribution of the cards at the ward level.
EBONYI
As at January 11, 2019, the number of uncollected PVCs in Ebonyi State stood at 173,332, as Sunday Sun learnt from Prof. Godswill Obioma, the REC for the state.
“The outstanding PVCs dating back to 2015 and the ones we received for those who registered in 2017 and 2018 all amount to 318,006. Part of the number, to date, as of 11th of January, 2019, 144,674 have been collected and we have outstanding 173,332,” said Obioma.
He said further: “We have made the collection very friendly to the people. We are no longer giving out the PVCs at the ward level. In Ebonyi State, we have gone even to the polling unit level.
“We have also created special centres. For instance, we have gone to the tertiary institutions where we registered them before. We have set up collection points at the National Youth Service Corps camp and where they are doing community service.”
KADUNA
The number of uncollected PVCs is yet to be determined by NEC, but the state governor, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai put the figure at one million cards. Over 3.9 million voters were registered across the three senatorial zones in the state.
To this end, El-rufai urged the people to approach the INEC to collect their cards, to ensure that they will be able to vote, to elect the leaders of their choice.
The REC in the state, Abdullahi Adamu Kaugama, assured that registered voters would be able to collect their PVCs during the ongoing distribution exercise at the ward level. Kaugama stressed that smart card readers would be used for the polls, adding that where it fails to read a voter with a genuine PVC, the affected voter would be allowed to thumb print in a box next to his or her picture on the register and enter his or her telephone number before proceeding to vote.
He decried the issue of vote buying, noting that the commission had come up with three ways of checking it.
“It is important at this juncture to mention the worrisome issue of vote buying. The commission has responded to the menace in three ways. “First, we altered the configuration of our polling units by moving ballot boxes closer to the voting cubicles in order to make it difficult for voters to expose their marked ballot papers. Secondly, we have introduced a partial ban on use of mobile phones and other photographic devices by voters while in the cubicles. “Thirdly, we are introducing the rolling and flattening of ballot papers by voters before casting them into the ballot boxes.”
Kaugama informed that INEC has embarked on robust voter enlightenment, urging stakeholders to enlighten people in their respective areas about various aspects of elections.
“These include the voting procedure, the importance of voting, mobilization of voters, especially the women, youth and people living with disabilities,” he added.
ABIA
About 387,000 registered voters are yet to collect their PVCs in Abia State. Worried by this development, the REC in the state, Dr. Joseph Iloh is hopeful the people use the opportunity offered by the ongoing distribution of the cards at the ward level to get their cards. To prevent electoral fraud, the REC stated that collection of the PVCs would not be done by proxy.
He also appealed to the amalgamated unions to encourage their members to collect their PVCs to enable them cast their votes.
SOKOTO
In Sokoto state, the commission has recorded a high performance in terms of the collection of the PVCs, going by the amount left. Statistics made available to Sunday Sun indicated that out of 1,911,576 PVCs received by the commission, 1,717,006 had already been collected by registered voters, leaving a balance of 194,570 PVCs.
The REC in the state, Alhaji Sadiq Abubakar Musa, said that the commission “made the distribution of PVCs easy and smooth by taking the process closer to their homes and places of work.”
He added: “Our level of sensitization is very high and people have responded to that. We want them to continue responding to our calls for credible and smooth election exercise.”
When asked whether the state office of INEC had received any complaints in the course of the exercise, Sadiq said: “So far, we have not received any genuine complaints except the people who are not patient enough to follow the due process laid down by the commission.
“You know Nigerians are always in the habit of wanting to get things done quicker and faster than normal. Our officials are equally attending to them accordingly. Don’t forget that these cards are kept in a secure place and due process has to be followed before they can be released. But people thought it is a thing that can be brought out without taking a little time.”
Also speaking, Mr. Godwin Apatah who obtained his permanent Voters Card in July last year described the collection exercise in the state as smooth. He said: “I can recall that when I collected my PVC at the local government office of the commission, it was very smooth and easy. Even, now that they have moved it to ward offices, I believe people could access it faster than before.”