Catch Them Young Community Initiative (CATYCOI), an NGO, has urged INEC to restart PVC distribution before the November 11 governorship elections in Bayelsa, Imo and Kogi.

Nonso Orakwe, CATYCOI executive director, in collaboration with Inclusive Friends Association and Women in Politics Forum, made the call on Tuesday in Awka.

Mr Orakwa said restarting the Permanent Voter Card (PVC) distribution would ensure all eligible voters could vote in the forthcoming governorship elections.

According to him, between December 2022 and February 2023, INEC registered more than 10 million new voters, of which about four million were disenfranchised as they could not collect their PVCs.

Mr Orakwe said before the 2023 general elections, INEC held a voter register of 93,469,008 registered voters, out of which 87,209,007 had collected their PVCs while 6,259,229 PVCs were uncollected.

According to him, the number of uncollected PVCs may disenfranchise many in the forthcoming off-cycle governorship elections in Bayelsa, Imo, and Kogi states on November 11.

After several extensions, INEC ended the PVC collection on February 5, and the three states had (and still have) a combined total of 305,495 uncollected PVCs.

The total number of uncollected PVCs in Bayelsa stood at 46,967, Imo, 139,583, and Kogi, 118,945.

“We appeal to INEC to recommence PVC collection in these states to sustain the interest of women, young persons and persons with disability in the electoral processes,” the NGO stated.

Mr Orakwe said it was mandatory for INEC to issue PVCs to eligible registered voters according to section 16(1) of the Electoral Act, 2022, as amended.

(NAN)