The Independent National Electoral Commission has taken the campaign for the collection of Permanent Voter Cards to the Calabar carnival in Cross River State.
Addressing the members of staff of the commission in Calabar on Wednesday before the commencement of the carnival, the National Commissioner for Voter Education, Festus Okoye, said the commission had reached a critical stage of its preparation for the 2023 elections.
“We are making available the PVC collection at this point in time, and our going to Calabar carnival is part of our enlightenment programme to make sure people collect their PVCs.
“People must understand that the PVC has power. The PVC has potency. If it does not have power and potency, people will not aim to buy it.
“Our message to the Nigerian people is that only the PVC can change their circumstances. Therefore, those who don’t have the PVCs have no business in the electoral process. We want to encourage every Nigerian to collect their PVC and show up on election day.
“Our responsibility is to organise free, fair and credible election. Our allegiance is to the Nigerian people. We have no allegiance to any political party,” Okoye said.
He stated that organising a credible election was a shared responsibility, adding that, “The time has come for us to organise the freest election on the African continent. Let us go out there and show Nigerians that we have the capacity to organise a credible election.”
The campaign has as its slogan, ‘No PVC, no voting.’
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