Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has denied a report that it will burn uncollected Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs).
Although the commission said this may be the last resort, it emphasised that its mandate is to ensure that owners of the cards collect them.
Speaking after the first phase of the Continuous Voters Registration (CVR), Oyo State Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) Mutiu Agboke said the commission did not consider burning the uncollected PVCs or made it a policy to do so.
The REC said although uncollected PVCs in the state were over 600,000, the refusal to collect them is not in tandem with the participatory democracy INEC canvassed.
He said: “We are not going to burn any PVC. That may be the last option, but INEC has not really come out categorically on that or give an official backing to that. So, we urge our people to disregard a news report in a particular section of the media that said INEC was out to burn the PVCs.
“It is not on our agenda. The mandate of INEC, for now, is that we should intensify our efforts to make sure that we get the cards to the people so that they can collect them.
“It is a problem that we have a huge volume of uncollected PVCs. The implication is that those people will not be able to cast their votes. That is huge for INEC, and it is not in tandem with participatory democracy that INEC is canvassing for. INEC wants a platform for every eligible voters and electorate to be able to come forward and exercise their franchise because we don’t want to disenfranchise anybody.
“Now, it is a problem for INEC, but we will continue to sensitise people, remind them and talk to them about why they should collect the cards.”
