Election In The Air: 14,000 PVCs Snatched By Hoodlums In Rivers – INEC

The Independent National Electoral
Commission (INEC) has disclosed
that over 14,000 Permanent Voter
Cards (PVCs) have been snatched by
hoodlums from its officials during
the collection exercise in Rivers
State.
The state Resident Electoral
Commissioner (REC), Mrs Gesila
Khan, disclosed this while speaking
with newsmen in Port Harcourt, on
Friday.
According to Khan, some of the
cards were stolen from collection
centres in some local government
areas, where the PVCs were
deposited to enable the owners have
easy access to them.
While it would mean that the
owners would be disenfranchised,
Khan expressed no panic, as she
noted that the stolen cards would be
useless. The card reader system
would be used to authenticate and
verify the real owner of the PVCs
before they are allowed to vote.
Khan also disclosed that her office
received 2,990,056 PVCs, out of
which 1,869,379 had been
distributed to eligible voters in the
state.
She assured that more than 50,000
additional PVCs would be
distributed two weeks before the
general election, adding that over 80
percent of the registered voters in
the state had so far collected their
cards.
Khan also assured that the February
elections would be peaceful because
of the existing cooperation among
INEC officials, police and other
security agencies in the state.