EXCLUSIVE: PVC Collection Begins As Some FCT Centres Record Zero Turnout

The collection of Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) recorded low turnout on Friday.

Officials at some designated centers in Abuja said no voters showed up to collect their cards.

Checks by LEADERSHIP correspondents at the Wuse Zone 3 and Garki Area 10 collection centres revealed little or no activity on the first day of the exercise, despite the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) announcing the dates and locations for eligible voters to collect their cards.

At the Wuse Zone 3 centre, an INEC official who spoke on condition of anonymity said turnout was low despite efforts to sensitise residents about the exercise.

“We didn’t really do much today. We have made sensitisation around, we’ve been here since morning, but nothing happened,” the official said.

Another official at the centre, who also requested anonymity, said no PVCs were issued on the first day, adding that more residents were expected to turn up as the election approached.

“We didn’t give out any PVCs today. It’s because today is the first day, so when the date starts drawing near, people would start coming to collect their PVCs,” the official said.

A similar situation was observed at the Garki Area 10 collection centre, where LEADERSHIP correspondents arrived at about 3.40pm and found that officials had already closed for the day.

People at the premises told our correspondents that nobody had come to collect a PVC at the centre during the day.

INEC had announced that PVC collection would run from Friday, 9 October, to Thursday, 15 October 2026, between 9am and 3pm daily at designated centres across the FCT.

The exercise is part of the commission’s preparations for the 2027 general elections. Eligible voters are also expected to verify their registration details and ensure that their information is correctly captured in the voters’ register.

INEC Chairman, Professor Joash Amupitan, had said on Monday that the preliminary display of the voters’ register for claims and objections would run from 9 to 15 October.

He urged eligible voters to participate in the verification process and ensure their details were correctly captured in the register.

The commission also disclosed that its three-phase Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise attracted 10,772,421 new registrants.

According to INEC, the first phase, conducted from 25 August to 10 December 2025, registered 2,611,266 voters, while the second phase, which ran from 5 January to 17 April 2026, recorded 4,121,835 registrants.

The third phase, conducted from 11 May to 26 July 2026, registered 3,867,997 voters, bringing the total number of new registrants to more than 10.7 million.

INEC said the completed registration exercise increased the National Register of Voters to more than 103 million ahead of the 2027 general elections.