The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has extended the Permanent Voter Card (PVC) collection exercise in Osun State to July 31, ahead of the August 15 governorship election.
The Commission also reaffirmed its readiness to conduct a free, fair, credible and peaceful election, assuring stakeholders that all critical logistical, technological and operational preparations had been completed.
INEC Chairman, Prof. Joash Amupitan (SAN), disclosed this on Wednesday during the Osun State Governorship Election Stakeholders’ Forum in Osogbo.
He said the extension of the PVC collection exercise was aimed at encouraging greater voter participation, revealing that 322,822 newly registered voters, representing 62 per cent, had so far collected their PVCs.
Amupitan also announced that a mock accreditation exercise would be conducted on August 1 across 12 selected Local Government Areas to test the functionality of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) ahead of the election.
According to him, the Commission has completed all necessary arrangements to ensure the election reflects the will of the people.
Earlier, the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) for Osun State, Oluwatoyin Babalola, said the stakeholders’ forum marked INEC’s final engagement with stakeholders before the election.
She disclosed that voter registration in the state had increased from 1,954,800 to 2,339,233, while all 3,763 BVAS devices required for the election had been configured and fully charged, with an additional 1,328 backup machines prepared for contingencies.
Babalola added that non-sensitive election materials had already been distributed to the local government areas, while sensitive materials remained secured at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in Osogbo.
She also said the training of ad hoc staff would take place between July 31 and August 9 ahead of the poll.
Speaking at the forum, the Supervising National Commissioner for Osun State, Prof. Kunle Ajayi, described the governorship election as an important test of Nigeria’s democratic process.
Ajayi said the Commission had invested significantly in election logistics, voter education, personnel training and technology to improve transparency and credibility.
He warned political parties against voter intimidation, vote buying and inflammatory rhetoric, stressing that anyone found violating the Electoral Act would face prosecution.
The forum ended with an interactive session during which stakeholders raised concerns over election logistics, security, BVAS deployment, PVC collection and voter accreditation.
Responding, Amupitan assured participants that INEC had put adequate measures in place to ensure a peaceful, transparent and credible governorship election.
Following the stakeholders’ engagement, the INEC Chairman led National Commissioners, members of the Commission’s management team and other senior officials into a meeting with members of the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES) to review security arrangements ahead of the poll.