Kwara State Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Attahiru Madami, has decried the poor Permanent Voter’s Card (PVC) collection turnout of the kwaran electorate.
He made the comment at a stakeholders’ meeting ahead of the 2023 general elections in the state, the INEC boss said that, “We are still having a lot of challenges in the state in terms of PVCs collection”.
“Of the 46,602 new, PVCs received from the INEC headquarters in the state only 18,885 had been collected with a balance of 27,602 awaiting collection.
“From 2011 to 2019 the state had a total number of 233, 856 uncollected PVCs” , he said, adding that “out of this only 20,752 were collected as of October this year leaving over 193,000 uncollected.
Resident Electoral Commission (REC) Attahiru Madami has said.
On PVCs collection, he disclosed that the state had 20,506, but only 6,055 had so far been collected with 14,451 uncollected.
He also explained that the state recorded 43,008 invalid registrations, making Kwara the state with the least invalid registration figure in the country.
Madami said that the state registration figures stand at 1,689,288 compared to 1,401,895 recorded in 2019.
“Completed registration figures are 330,401 and valid registration figures are 287,393,” he said.
In his speech, the state Commissioner of Police, Paul Odama, charged politicians against feeding their supporters with hard drugs.
“Politicians should do well to embark on issue-based campaigns and no personality-based campaigns. They should ensure that their followers are civil in all their actions. They should shun thuggery and damage to the billboards of opposing parties.
“As enshrined in the Electoral Law, vote-buying and selling will not be allowed.
“On our part, we will do all within our powers to support and collaborate with stakeholders to ensure that our democracy is firmly rooted in the country.
“Finally, the Police and other security agents in the state have, at different times, strategized on how the elections will be free and credible”, he said.
