With barely two months to the general elections, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has disclosed that at least 2,181,059 potential voters in Lagos and Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Abuja are yet to claim their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs).
This is as the electoral umpire reiterated its decision that PVCs will not be given by proxy.
A document sighted by Theliberationnews showed that 7,510,491 PVCs had been collected in Lagos, while in the FCT, 1,075,211 PVCs were collected.
The document also showed that in the FCT, 230,007 PVCs were not collected between 2011 and 2019 out of 1,229,894 cards, while 230,636 were not collected between 2021 and 2022 out of 305,960 PVCs received by the office.
One of the documents titled: ‘INEC Lagos PVCs Reports,’ showed that the old PVCs received were 6,570,291; old PVCs collected up till December 27, 2022 were 6,652,515; total uncollected old PVCs were 917,776; new PVCs received from Headquarters were 940,200; new PVCs collected as at December 27, 2022 were 137,560; total uncollected New PVCs were 802,640; overall total PVCs received from Headquarters were 7,510,491; overall PVCs collected as at December 27, 2022 were 5,790,075; and overall PVCs uncollected were 1,720,416.
While delivering his speech at a stakeholders meeting, INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner, REC, Lagos State, Mr. Olusegun Agbaje, said: “Uncollected PVCs are available for collection in all INEC offices across the state. And a collection of PVCs by proxy will not be allowed and the collection of PVC is free.”
