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  • REC Longpet Laments Over Uncollected 160,966 PVC’s In Kogi

    REC Longpet Laments Over Uncollected 160,966 PVC’s In Kogi

    From Noah Ocheni, Lokoja

    The Resident Electoral Commissioner, (REC) INEC in Kogi State, Dr Hale Gabriel Longpet has lamented over 160,966 uncollected Permanent Voter’s Cards (PVC’S) in Kogi State ahead of the 2023 general election.

    Dr Hale Gabriel Longpet who disclosed this during an interview with newsmen said voters in Kogi State are expected to be 1.9million which include those who registered between 2019 to June 2022.

    He said as at 2nd of December 2022, out of 154,984 voters cards which were produced for voters who registered in 2019, only 13,689 were collected while 141, 295 have not collected their 2019 voters card.

    For the fresh registration between 2021 and June 2022, Longpet said the commission expected 38,505 people to come and collect their permanent voters card, but unfortunately, 18,924 voters have collected their PVC’s while 19,671 is yet uncollected.

    The REC said “I have always used every opportunity to express my displeasure over the poor collection of PVC’s in Kogi State. We have 32,508 people who transferred their PVC’s from one polling unit to another. But so far, we have seen only 5,977 who have come to collect those transferred PVC’s. And You will agree with me that it is not an encouraging figure.”

    “However, we are under strict order at all State offices of INEC. From today 6th December, we have started sensitizing people, engaging Civil Society Organization, Media to start helping people to come and collect their PVC’s” he added.

    The Kogi INEC REC, however, used the medium to debunk the information making the rounds that a court of competent jurisdiction in Nigeria has ordered INEC to resume registration of voters ahead of the election.

    “We discussed this in Lagos during the INEC stakeholders meeting in Lagos. There is no Court that asked INEC to resume the registration of voters. It is all false and should be disregarded by the public” he added.

    While assuring Nigerians that the Commission is ready for a transparent, free and fair election, Longpet noted that the introduction of BVAS by INEC has gone a long way to reduce electoral malpractice.

  • 2023 Elections: Low Response Of Collection Of Voter’s Cards Worries INEC In Kogi – REC Longpet

    2023 Elections: Low Response Of Collection Of Voter’s Cards Worries INEC In Kogi – REC Longpet

    From Noah Ocheni, Lokoja.

    The Resident Electoral Commissioner Of INEC, Kogi state,
    Dr. Hale Gabriel Longpet, on Wednesday in Lokoja regretted the negative response of citizenry to INEC’s call to collect their PVCs as 189,760 cards are still uncollected.

    Longpet who made it known at a press conference in his office said that the opening balance of uncollected PVCs as at 2019 in Kogi State was 154,984 adding only 13,689 of the number was collected as at November 7, 2022 leaving a balance of 141,295.

    Longpet said that fresh registration from 2021 to 2022 was 38,595 and only 17,413 was distributed leaving a balance of 21,182 while the total transfer PVC for 2022 stood at 32,508 with just 5,225 distributed leaving a balance of 27,283.

    Longpet revealed that the Commission would soon embark on sensitization and awareness campaign with Public Address systems for registered voters to collect their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs).

    The Rec said that the commission was at the critical stage in the implementation of the timetable and schedule of activities for the General Elections.

    He said that the Commission was engaging security agencies, Media, Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) among other stakeholders in its preparations and planning towards successful conduct of the 2023 General Elections.

    “These include the distribution of some of the sensitive and non-sensitive election materials, the training of personnel who would be handling some of the newly introduced technological.

    The commissioner said there is no going back on the deployment of Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and INEC Result Viewing Portal (IREV) in 2023 General Elections.

    He said the Commission was resolute on its stand adding that deployment of technology in the conduct of elections in the country has come to stay.

    He said that while the BVAS would be used for voter accreditation, there would be electronic transmission of results to the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IREV) in real time on election day.

    The REC said that cases of ballot box snatching, stuffing and over voting would be a thing of the past with the use technology of the BVAS adding hackers had tried unsuccessfully to hack into the newly adopted technology.

    “| would like to use this opportunity to assure Nigerians that, as the Commission has always emphasized, there will be no going back on the deployment of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) for voter accreditation and electronic transmission of results to INEC Result Viewing Portal (IREV) in real time on election day”, he said.

    Longpet also revealed that culminating from the Continuous Voter Registration from 2021 to November 07, this year, the population of eligible voters in the state had appreciated from 2.6 million in 2019 to over 1.9 million.

    He said that successes recorded in Anambra Ekiti, Osun, Ondo elections had reinforced the belief of the commission in the BVAS and IREV adding that the nation had advanced and nothing would stop its deployment of technology in subsequent elections in the country.

    He said that the Commission would ensure that the upcoming display of voter register scheduled to take place across the 239 Wards (RAs) in the state was handled by at least two personnel per ward.

    “In a few days, the Commission will be displaying the supplementary voter register in all the Wards and Local Government Areas of all the States”.

    “This according to him is to enable Nigerians who had registered to go and verify their names and actual polling units that they will be voting at all the elections in 2023.”

    “In our efforts to sanitize the process of voting, INEC had to decongest some polling units and have therefore converted some polling points into new polling units,”

    He added that voters would be directed to where they would find their names if not found at their last voting point.