Thugs at the weekend disrupted the collection of Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs) in some wards in Ikpoba-Okha Local Government Area of Edo State.
The perpetrators reportedly stormed the collection centres in the morning when officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) moved the distribution of the PVC to ward level in line with the commission’s plan to commence devolution of PVC collection at the various wards on Friday, January 6.
The incident, it was gathered, happened both on Friday and Saturday in 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).
Reacting to the incident, Timidi Wariowie, head, voter education and publicity, Edo State office of INEC, in a statement, said the disruption happened in five wards of the council.
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“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 these RAs/Wards.
“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collection centres for Ward 1 and Ward 9 to the INEC Local Government Office in Ikpoba Okha, while the staff earlier withdrawn from Ward 5, Ward 6 and Ward 7 are making their ways back to their collection centres to continue with the activity, on the assurances the Electoral Officer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,” Wariowie said.
Wariowie stressed the need for citizens, especially community leaders, to ensure the safety of INEC officials and materials deployed to the various communities so that every voter can collect their PVCs and are able to vote in the election.
He, however, reiterated that collection of PVC can only be by the owners and not through proxy.
