By Mick Oseji, Asaba
The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, on Wednesday expressed concern over the unwillingness of voters to collect their Permanent Voter Cards, PVCs, in Edo State ahead of the August 16 bye – elections in Ovia Federal Constituency and the Edo Central senatorial district.
The Commission revealed that a total of 101,617 uncollected PVCs were recorded in the seven local government areas that are participating in the August 16 bye – elections in the state.
The State Resident Electoral Commissioner, REC, Prof. Anugbum Onuoha disclosed this at a press briefing in Benin City, the state capital.
The bye – elections in Ovia Federal Constituency and the Edo Central senatorial district became necessary after the seats were vacated last year by the election of the former occupants – Hon. Dennis Idahosa and Senator Monday Okpebholo, who were elected deputy governor and governor of the state, respectively.
Onuoha also revealed that out of the 719,504 voters that registered for election in the areas, only 617, 887 have collected their PVCs.
He assured the constituents of Ovia Federal Constituency and the Edo Central senatorial district of free, fair and credible elections.
“The Commission is fully prepared to conduct a transparent and hitch-free elections,” he said, adding, “Bimodal Voters Accreditation System (BVAS) has been configured, while non-sensitive materials have been deployed,” he said.
However, the INEC Resident Commissioner, said that the Labour Party, LP, and four other political parties would not be participating in the bye-elections.
He listed the other affected parties as Accord, BOOT Party, National Rescue Movement, NRM and Young Progressive Party, YPP.
Giving insight into why the affected political were excluded, Onuoha said while the Labour Party did not indicate interest in the elections, others that signified interest did not conduct primaries to select candidates.
He added that Labour Party did not notify INEC of its intention to participate in the election and as a result, its primary was not known or monitored by the INEC officials
He said out of the 14 political parties that indicated interest, only nine invited INEC to monitor their primary elections.
He listed the parties that would be participating as Action Alliance (AA), African Democratic Congress (ADC), All Progressives Congress (APC), Allied Peoples Movement (APM), Action Peoples Party (APP), Action Democratic Party (ADP), New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Zenith Labour Party (ZLP).
He noted that when INEC staff visited the Secretariat of the other four parties for the primary elections, the offices were locked.
“Fourteen political parties expressed interest. They gave us their address, we went there and we didn’t see anybody. Those ones include Accord, BOOT Party, National Rescue Movement (NRM), Young Progressive Party (YPP), they closed their office.
“Some others invited us, but we got there, their doors were locked. We could not find anyone,” he said.
