The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says it distributed 1.9 million Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) to registered voters ahead of Saturday’s governorship election in Osun.

This was announced by Mohammed Kudu Haruna, the national commissioner and chairman of the Information and Voter Education Committee, on Thursday.

“Out of the total of 2,339,233 registered voters in the state, 1,906,390 PVCs, representing 81.50 per cent, have been collected.

“The remaining 432,843 PVCs, representing 18.50 per cent, have been safely deposited with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), in line with the commission’s established practice,” he said.

He stated that some persons with damaged, defaced, or lost PVCs applied for replacement of their cards.

“A total of 6,101 among those who applied printed downloadable copies of their PVCs,” he added.

Mr Haruna said that a table of the PVCs collected, polling unit by polling unit, had been published on INEC’s website.

The electoral body reassured political parties, civil society organisations, the media, and the good people of Osun State of its total readiness to conduct a free, fair, credible, and transparent election.