#AnambraDecides: YIAGA Raises Alarm Over PVCs Distribution On Election Eve

The Election Watch Civil Society Organization, YIAGA Africa, has alleged distribution of Permanent Voters Card to voters in Anambra, a few hours before the elections.

The development according to the organization is an indication that the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, cannot ascertain the total figure of collected PVCs for the Saturday gubernatorial elections.

Naija News reports that the Director of YIAGA, Samson Itodo, made the assertions on Friday while appearing live for an interview on Channels Television Programme ‘Politics today’.

Meanwhile, the State National Commissioner for the commission, Festus Okoye, had stated earlier during the Programme that INEC was distributing PVCs to enable lots of voters to participate in the election.

Okoye blamed the delay in distribution for the insecurity in the state.

He said, “As you have mentioned, we had a total of 81,770 PVCs. We brought them into Awka and distributed them to the 21 LGAs in Anambra.

“We cannot harvest the figure of PVCs distributed now because distribution is going on simultaneously with the distribution of sensitive materials, but in most of the local governments, we witnessed a huge turn-up.”

Itodo, however, was uncomfortable with the commission’s decision, saying that, “This is a drawback and it is a recession.

“This same commission, over the last series of elections, took the collection of PVC down to the polling units. They did that during the 2019 elections; they did it in all the elections we had afterwards.

“To come to an election of this nature and the commission is still distributing PVCs 24 hours to the elections marks a recession and it is unacceptable,” Itodo reiterated.

Okoye, however, vowed that the uncollected PVCs would not be compromised.

He said: “The uncollected ones will not be compromised. No one can vote with a card that is not his own.”