Scores of prospective voters on Tuesday besieged the offices of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in all the local government areas in Ogun to collect their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs).

The correspondents, who monitored the exercise in some locations report that people took advantage of the two days public holiday declared by the state government for workers to collect their PVCs.

At the Oke-Ilewo office of INEC, the designated venue for Abeokuta South Local Government Area, scores of people were seen in long queues for the collection of their PVCs.

Many others, who could not stand long in queues, took refuge under the trees in the designated centres.

The exercise, which started at about 9:00 a.m. in some of the centres visited, was peaceful and orderly.

But, the INEC officials had a difficult time controlling the people and sorting out the cards due to the huge numbers of people in queues.

While some of the people were able to collect their PVCs, many who were not so lucky were asked to come back on Wednesday.

Some of the electorate, who spoke with journalists expressed mixed reactions over the exercise.

One of them identified as Johnson said there were no enough INEC officials on ground to attend to the people.

“I got here around 9:20 a.m. and I am just collecting my PVC as at 2:30.p.m.,” Mr Johnson lamented.

Another person, Elizabeth Okafor, commended the commission for the peaceful conduct of the exercise, saying, “people only need to exercise patience to collect their cards”.

A trader, simply identified as Ben, blamed INEC for inadequate publicity on the change of venue for the collection of PVCs.

“INEC did not inform us of the change of venue from the Iyana-Mortuary collection centre for residents of Abeokuta-South Local Government area to Oke-Ilewo.

“Many of us have been at the Iyana-Mortuary collection centre for Abeokuta-South Local Government since 8:30 a.m., waiting for INEC officials, not knowing that the venue has been changed,” he said.

The situation was the same at other collection centres, including Abeokuta North Local Government, where many prospective voters thronged the places to collect their PVCs.

Commenting, Akeem Balogun, the electoral officer for the Abeokuta-South Local Government, said the recent burning of INEC’s office at Iyana-Mortuary necessitated the change of venue.

Mr Balogun, however, said the change had since been publicised through many sources and avenues.

“Many PVCs are being re-printed because of the attack on some of our offices. As soon as we take delivery of them, we shall distribute them to the owners.

“Many people have taken advantage of the two days holiday declared by the state government,” he said. 

(NAN)