INEC Laments  Poor Collocation Of PVCs In Plateau State

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By; BUHARI B. BELLO, Jos

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Plateau State  has said that there is low turnout of people for collection of Permanent Voters Card (PVC) in all the 17 local government areas by residents partly due to lack of enough political enlightenment.

Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC),  Dr. Oliver Tersoo Agundu announced this at a meeting with stakeholders in Jos, where he expressed dismay on the development, barely days to the general election in the country.

He noted that the state has recorded only 26 per cent of PVC total collection with thousands of PVCs yet to be collected.

He said that the meeting was part of the commission’s commitment to sustaining engagement with the public and to ensure that citizens participate in the general elections.

“It is pertinent to, therefore, bring to your notice and by extension the entire people of Plateau that so far, the level of collection is abysmally poor and the attitude of the public towards the exercise is not encouraging.

“This is especially in our collective quest for an inclusive and participatory elections in February and March; time is not on our side.

“If this trend continues and the lukewarm attitude is not checked, we may have a situation where a large percentage of our people will not be participating in this election,” he said.

Dr. Agundu also noted that the use of Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS)  for the accreditation of prospective voters remains sacrosanct.

The commissioner promised to keep Plateau residents updated on the commission’s level of preparedness and emerging issues.

Many political observers in the state believe that the situation is possible due to lack of political education on the part of the electorate as their Representatives at the National Assembly and the state Assembly did nothing to educate the electorate politically.

The political atmosphere in the state ahead of the general  is further worsened by the deepening internal crisis in all the major political parties.

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