Osun Guber: PVC Registration Closes End of March – REC

Residents of Osun State have till the end of March for registration of Permanent Voter Card (PVC) to enable them participate in the July 16 Governorship Election in the State.

The State Resident Electoral Commissioner, REC, Prof AbdulGaniyy Raji stated this on Sunday at a voter education programme organised by the Joint Muslim Action Forum, JOMAF, in Osogbo.

He said end of March marks the end of 3rd Quarter for the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC’s registration of PVC, adding that though 4th Quarter would beging shortly after, the exercise would be discontinued in Osun owing to the forthcoming governorship election in the State.

He urged people of the state who are yet to register to do so in order not to disenfranchise themselves as it was important for all to participate in choosing who become their leaders.

Prof Raji disclosed that about 300,000 PVCs were yet to be collected from the various offices of the commission across the State.

He described the situation as not good for democracy as it means that the majority of people would not participate in the process of choosing who governs them.

The REC used the opportunity to encourage those who want to update and or correct the data in their PVC to visit the commission’s website, saying the process has been made easy.

Speaking about the newly created additional polling units across the State, Prof. Raji stated that the purpose is to ease the voting exercises, counting and collation processes on the day of election.

He said it is important for those who want to transfer to the new voting units to take the advantage as it would help them to be closer to their polling unit and also reduce queue as well as save their time on election day.

“We have created new polling units, we used to have 3010 polling units, now we have created 753 making 3763 polling units in Osun State. However, the new polling units that were created, we do not have too many people transfeeing their registration or registering their newly.

“We want people to move their voting right to those new polling units which are now closer to their residences. It has several advantages. One we will have very few people on the line, the queue will be short, and so we can complete the election within a very short period and at the end of the day we will now be able to count and collate during the day light.

The chairman, JOMAF, Kola Uzamot said the programme was organised to train the trainers in voter education.

He said it became necessary for people to understand and have adequate knowledge of the voting process as Osun State governorship election is around the corner.

Uzamot said, JOMAF is concerned about smooth election process and ready to work with stakeholders to ensure that a free, fair and credible election is conducted in the State.

He said “this is a training the trainers programme that’s why we invites our Imams and missioners so that they can enlighten their people. It is only when they are informed that they can inform the people.

“The July 16 gubernatorial election in Osun State is very close, our people must be informed about the process of choosing who will lead them.”

Representative of the State Director of Department of State Security, DSS assured that the Service in collaboration with other sister agencies have perfected all arrangements to provide adequate security before, during and after the July 16 governorship election.

Some of the delegates at the programme, Miftah Olayiwola and Abbas Onaolapo commeded JOMAF for organising the programme, saying it went a long way in educating them further on voting process.

While commending INEC for showing that it’s record for the conduct of the coming election in the state, they said what they have learnt at the programme would the pass on to others in their respective areas.