The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says Permanent Voter Cards (PVC) are now available for collection in all of its offices across Ogun State.

INEC said those who were registered during the previous Continuous Voters Registration (CVR) exercise should visit the local government offices of INEC for the collection of their voter cards.

The INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in Ogun State, Prof. Abdulganiyu Raji, made this known during a presentation at a one-day stakeholders conference on continuous voters registration, held at the June 12 Cultural Centre, Kuto, Abeokuta, on Wednesday.

The conference, which was organised by the office of the Special Assistant to Governor Dapo Abiodun on Students’ Matters, Azeez Adeyemi, had as its theme, ‘INEC Continuous Registration Exercise and Students Civic Responsibility.’

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During his presentation, the Ogun REC maintained that the ongoing voters registration exercise was made online to reduce the worrying cases of voter apathy in Nigeria.

According to him, out of the 84 million people that registered for the 2019 elections, only a paltry 27 per cent turned out to vote during the polls.

Raji urged students to use the online links to get registered for the next elections; maintaining, however, that the registration process is not yet completed until applicants’ fingerprints are captured at designated INEC offices.

He added that the commission was yet to move its machines to registration areas because of the security situation of the country, saying the commission was being distracted by attacks on its facilities across the nation.

He explained that the masses should be blamed for election rigging and not INEC staff, who he said do not play any major roles on election days when adhoc staff must have been employed.

The REC urged those who want to transfer their PVC from one place to another to visit INEC offices in their new location to do so.

Earlier, the Special Assistant on Students’ Matters, Adeyemi, said the conference was coming at a time that the nation’s democracy was undergoing trials from all fronts, especially with the agitations for secession being championed in some parts of the country.

In order to ensure Ogun youths perform their civic responsibilities in electing good leaders, Adeyemi said his office had “taken it upon itself to launch this exercise with the aim of capturing not less than Fifty Thousand (50,000) fresh voters from the students’ consistency in Ogun State.”

This, he said, “is to ensure that students of tertiary institutions, who are 18 and above, register and take part in the election come 2023.”

Calling for unity in Nigeria, Adeyemi stressed that, “It is high time we all joined hands together to ensure that we salvage Nigeria from this threat of disintegration.

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“We must not succumb to the selfish and unpatriotic interest of a few disgruntled elements to bring down the only place we can call our home.

“The survival and progress of Ogun State in particular, and Nigeria in general, remains our primary responsibility and focus at this time.”

(DAILY POST)