Ahead of next month’s general elections, Imo State officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has taken delivery of additional 500,000 Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs).

The commission has been saddled with the problem uncollected PVCs even after it made several public pronouncements on the need for registered voters in the state to collect them.

Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in the state, Professor Francis Chukwuemeka Ezeonu, confirmed this through the Head, Voter Education and Publicity, Sunday Adedoyin, during a one-day capacity building organized for journalists and INEC publicity officials by the Westminster Foundation for Democracy.

At the workshop, which participants were drawn from the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, Osun and Imo states, Ezeonu noted that the additional PVCs belonged to those who registered during last year’s registration exercise in the 27 local government areas of the state, urging the registrants to go to their respective council headquarters and collect the PVCs.

He said the theme of the workshop: Fact Checking and Tracking of Fake News, which focused on the media, internet, television, radio, magazines, and newspapers, was necessary, especially as the nation gets closer to the general elections.

He decried the negative and destructive dissemination of information aspect of the social media in the country, which he said, must be checked and neutralized by regulatory bodies.

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Ezeonu urged the participants to make use of the opportunity and translate in ensuring proper information dissemination before, during and after elections.

Meanwhile, to ensure that registered voters participate fully in the forthcoming general elections, the commission has decentralized the collection of PVCs in Plateau State to 207 Registration Areas (RAs).

Head of Voter Education and Publicity in the state, Osaretin Imahiyereobo, in a statement issued in Jos, said the collection commences from January 16 to January 21, 2019 across the 17 local government areas of the state.

“All voters who registered, applied for ta ransfer, replacement of lost and defaced cards during the CVR exercises between April 2017 and August 30, 2018 are enjoined to use the six-day exercise to visit the RAs where they registered to collect their cards.”

“The Commission has taken delivery of 25,777 PVCs for those whose cards were omitted, applied for replacement of lost cards, defaced and some 2015 unprinted cards,” he stated.

Culled from Guardian