Intending voters in Ondo have started a ‘mad rush’ for the collection of their permanent voters cards (PVCs) across the offices of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in the state, Peoples Gazette observed.

The voters, especially new registrants, thronged designated INEC offices on Tuesday and in the early hours of Wednesday in large numbers. 

The Gazette reporter who witnessed large crowds at collection points reports that the staff of INEC in Ondo had a hectic task controlling the visitors who were mostly impatient to get their voters cards. 

Governor Rotimi Akeredolu declared Tuesday as work free day in Ondo to allow workers collect their PVCs ahead of the February 25 and March 11 general elections. 

Mr Akeredolu had in a statement, said the declaration became imperative following the low rate of the collection of the PVCs, most especially in the South-West region.  

“The importance of the forthcoming elections can not be overemphasised. There is an urgent need for us to address the low rate of PVCs collection in the Southwest,” he said in the statement issued by his spokesperson, Richard Olatunde. 

The Gazette observed many of the intending voters struggling to get their PVCs as they talked in hush tones about the cumbersome process for the collection. 

The majority of them were government workers and private business owners who used the opportunity of the holiday to besiege the INEC office for their cards. 

A few of them who spoke, however, lamented the disorderliness caused by those who would not want to join the queue, especially in the name of being security officers or other essential duty workers. 

Adeola Ibikunle, one of the newly registered voters in Akure South LGA, complained bitterly over the delay in the distribution of the voters’ cards. 

Mr Ibikunle said he decided to abandon his job for the collection to participate in next month’s polls and vote for the candidate of his choice in the exercise. 

“I’ve been here for several hours and yet it seems the queue is not moving. They told us to be in a straight line but you would still see people jumping the queue.

“I have to get this card to vote for my candidate in the February election and I came to Ondo to register because I was transferred here two years ago,” he said. 

Another voter who visited the INEC offices, Bimbo Olaiya, noted that getting the PVCs was important to her aside for the election purpose. 

“You know our government, they might wake up tomorrow and say the PVCs are the only requirement to get things done in the country. Just like the issue of NIN now,” Mrs Olaiya added. 

She explained that she was less bothered about the slow process of the collection, adding that “I have been here since morning and I know I will get mine.”

Other workers who spoke to The Gazette were unanimous in asking the electoral body to increase the number of its staff to hasten the collection of the PVCs.

The spokesperson for INEC in Ondo, Olufunmike Segun-Osifeso, told The Gazette that the surge being experienced should be blamed on the registered voters who decided to wait until the last minute in collecting their voters’ cards. 

Mrs Segun-Osifeso added that the commission has already deployed its staff to other local council areas of the state.

“The work is to also compliment the efforts of the existing staff and ease the distribution process,” she said in a brief chat. 

INEC previously said it would end the PVCs collection by January 22, 2023, having started the process on December 12, 2022.

Festus Okoye, the National Commissioner and Chairman Information and Voter Education, who announced this in a statement said the PVCs collection now ends on January 29, 2023

“The Commission is encouraged by the turnout of registered voters and the surge in the number of collected PVCs across the country,” Mr Okoye said.

The electoral body also revealed a total of 93,469,008 registered voters for the 2023 general elections.