INEC in Lagos State says the Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) issued by the commission since 2011 till date do not expire and there is no need for any revalidation.
INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner in Lagos, Mr Olusegun Agbaje, made this clarification in a statement on Saturday to reduce crowd at various Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) in the state.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that there has been huge surge in most voter enrollment centres in the state ahead of July 31 CVR deadline.
There have been speculation on social media that old PVCs needed some revalidation, hence the reason why many people besiege CVR centres daily, while some engage in double and multiple registrations.
Agbaje also appealed to those who are not registering for the first time or do not have any issue with PVC or fingerprint during accreditation in any past election not to visit the designated voter enrollment centres.
Agbaje said: “The commission wishes to reiterate that Permanent Voter Cards issued by the independent National Electoral Commission since 2011 till date do not expire and no need for any revalidation.
“The PVC will work very well with the commission’s new technology code, named Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BIVAS), as witnessed in Anambra, Ekiti and Osun states governorship elections recently conducted by the commission.
“The commission once again appeals to those who are not registering for the first time or do not have any issue with PVC or fingerprint during accreditation in any past election not to visit the designated Physical CVR Centres but address transfer and PVC incidences like damage, deface or loss on the commission’s online portal to reduce the crowd.”
He said that the CVR, which commenced on June 28, 2021, would end on July 31.
According to him, all eligible citizens that are yet to register should visit any of the CVR Centres at the INEC headquarters office in Sabo-Yaba.
Agbaje noted that they could also go to INEC offices in the 20 local government arears or scheduled wards to do so.
“The commission is ready to capture all eligible citizens before the end of the exercise,” he added.
Agbaje said that those that were eligible to register at the CVR centres included Nigerians who had clocked 18 years and above and had not registered before.
The INEC boss added that registered voters who had had any problem during accreditation for any past election with either PVC or their fingerprints not being read by the Smart Card Reader.
He said that registered voters who wanted to transfer their voting location from one place to another, correct issues with their data or those whose PVCs were damaged, defaced or lost did not need to visit the CVR Centres but visit the commission’s online CVR platforms; https://cvr.inecnigeria org or https://cvr.inec.gov.ng to address the issue as the case may be.
NAN