Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Yobe State said 78, 989 permanent voter cards (PVCs) belonging to eligible voters across the state are yet to be collected.
The administrative secretary of the commission in the state, Abatcha Bukar stated this during an interactive session with the political parties and other stakeholders in Damaturu.
Bukar said out of the total number, over 60, 000 were left over of the 2019 registration exercise that were not collected while the remaining were those recently sent by the national office of the commission.
“In 2019, we registered 72, 157 eligible voters out of which only 16, 446 collected their PVCs while the remaining are still lying in our offices across the 17 local governments and the headquarters.
“As we are talking to you, all those who registered during the first batch of the voter registration exercise specifically from June, 2021 to January, 2022 their PVCs are with us ready for collection.
“For those who participated in the registration from January, 2022 to June, 2022 their PVCs will be ready by the end of October, 2022 while those who registered between July, 2022 their cards will be ready. “
The administrative secretary expressed concern that people are not coming to collect their PVCs urging politicians to enlighten their supporters on the need to collect their cards.
He called on the media, civil society organisations (CSOs) among others to help in sensitizing the public on the importance of the cards.