Some hoodlums disrupted the collection of the Permanent Voters Card in some parts of Ikpoba Okha Local Government Area of Edo State on a Friday and Saturday morning.
The miscreants’ action followed the movement of the distribution of PVCs to the ward level by the Independent National Electoral Commission in the state.
The Head of INEC Voters Education in Edo State, Timidi Wariowei, said in a press statement in Benin on Saturday that the disruption involved five wards in Ikpoba Okha Local Government Area of the state.
According to him, the Commission has taken a decision to move the collection centres from Ward 1 and Ward 9 to the INEC Local Government Office in Ikpoba Okha.
“The Independent national Electoral Commission (INEC) Edo State has received reports of unruly incidents between yesterday ,Friday January 6 and today, Saturday January 7, which degenerated to the disruption of the collection of PVC and threat to officials and materials in the following RAs/Wards:
“Ward 01 at Iwogban/Uteh;Ward 05 at St. Saviour’s School;Ward 07 at Ugbekun;Ward 06 at Maria Goretti College ;RA 09 at Obanyator ,with Army Children’s School and Ogheghe health centres respectively as the actual centres.
“In the meantime, INEC Edo State has decided to move the collection centres for Ward 1 and Ward 9 to the INEC Local Government Office in Ikpoba Okha, while the staff earlier withdrawn from Ward 5, Ward 6 and Ward 7 are making their ways back to their collection centres to continue with the activity, on the assurances the Electoral Officer has received from the DSS of their presence in those locations. INEC has equally informed the Police Command about the situation.
“INEC wishes to remind citizens, especially community leaders, of the need to ensure the safety of INEC officials and materials, as deployed to the various communities to ensure that every voter collects their PVCs and are able to vote in the election.
“INEC wishes to stress again that collection of PVC can only be by the owners and not through proxy.” He said.
However, Wariowei said that a total of 26095 prospective voters have collected their PVCs between the 1st – 7th of January,2023 ahead of the general elections.
