Edo/Ondo guber: INEC appeals to media to help mobilize prospective registrants for CVR

By Lateef Ibrahim, Abuja

Chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Professor Mahmood Yakubu has appealed to the media to join the commission in mobilising prospective registrants for the planned Continuous Voter’s Registration, CVR, ahead of this year’s governorship elections in Edo and Ondo States.
Prof Yakubu pointed out that the appeal became necessary particularly because of the need for the new registrants to register early and not wait until the deadline approaches when the registration centres will be inundated by eleventh hour registrants.
The INEC Chairman made the appeal on Wednesday at the second quarterly Consultative meeting with the media in Abuja.
Yakubu equally requested media organisations to submit applications for accreditation to report on the elections in earnest along with the required documentation for individual journalists and support staff.
Doing so, he reasoned, will enable the Commission to produce and deliver the identity cards for journalists covering the election in good time.
The INEC Chairman warned however that the Commission will not entertain requests outside the deadline for the receipt of applications from interested media organisations or process requests that do not meet the criteria for accreditation.
In the words of Prof Yakubu, “The Commission therefore appeals to the media to join us in mobilising prospective registrants for the exercise, particularly on the need to register early and not wait until the deadline approaches when the registration centres will be inundated by eleventh hour registrants.
“In addition to the registration of voters, the Commission will also make available the uncollected Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs) for collection during the CVR.
“In the coming days, the list of uncollected PVCs will be published in our offices in the two States and simultaneously uploaded to our website. “We believe that doing so will make it easier for voters to know the availability of the cards and identify the locations to collect them.
“However, no PVCs will be collected by proxy. Registered voters should come in person to collect their cards.
“Again, we seek for the support of the media in encouraging voters to locate and pick up thier PVCs as was done in the past.
“Still on our preparations for the two Governorship elections, the Commission has published the final list of candidates for Edo following the conclusion of party primaries and the end of the period for withdrawal and substitution of candidates as provided in the Timetable and Schedule of Activities for the election.
“Campaign in public by political parties commenced on Wednesday 24th April 2024 and will end at midnight on Thursday 19th September 2024 i.e. 24 hours before the date fixed for the election as provided by law.
“We look forward to reading your monitoring reports of the campaigns as some of you have done in the past.