By Adekola Afolabi & Victor Akinkuolie

Ondo State Governor, Arakunrin Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, has approved tomorrow, Tuesday a work-free day.

This is to enable all eligible voters in the State collect their Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs) at the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) designated centers in their respective Local Government Areas.

Governor Akeredolu urged civil servants, private workers, artisans, and other well-meaning residents of the State who are eligible voters to seize the opportunity and collect their PVCs.

The Governor in a statement signed by his Chief Press Secretary, Richard Olatunde called on the people to place premium on the collection of PVCs to enable them exercise their franchise in the forthcoming elections.

“The importance of the forthcoming elections cannot be overemphasised . There is an urgent need for us to address the low rate of PVCs collection in the Southwest. Beyond partisan lines, it is imperative that our people understand that the PVC is their license to enthrone desired political leadership.

“We are constrained to take this decision to enable our people take this advantage and collect their PVCs. It’s important that we all exercise our civic responsibilities.

“All political appointees and other government functionaries are also directed to return to their local governments and wards to encourage our people to collect their PVCs”, the statement added.

In the same vein, Ekiti State Governor Mr Biodun Oyebanji has also declared Tuesday, January 24, 2023 a work- free day in the State.

In a release by the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Mr Yinka Oyebode, said the move was to enable eligible voters in the State to collect their PVC at the INEC office and other designated centres across the State.

The Governor also urged all eligible voters in the State to take advantage of the holiday and collect their PVC which he described as their licence to participate in the forth coming general election.

It will be recall that the Resident Electoral Commission (REC) in the State, Professor Abayomi Salami, has recently disclosed that an aggregate of 234,037 PVC are yet to be claimed.

Salami stated that a total of 754,886 had collected their PVCs, out of 988,923 total registered voters in the state, which he said represents 24% of registration in the state.

He said: “Preparatory to the forthcoming 2023 general elections in Ekiti, let me state that INEC has 16 local government areas, 177 Registration areas, and 2,445 polling units to deal with.

“We have a total number of 988,923 registered voters out of which 754,886 voters have collected their PVCs , while 234,037, representing 24% are yet to collect their PVCs”.

On the insinuations about the techno-local innovations invented by the Commission that this may be jettisoned the smooth conduct of the exercise, the Ekiti State REC cleared the air that the Bimodal Voters Assessment System and the INEC Result Viewing Portal would be fully applied in all elections.

Salami urged registered voters to break away from the culture of long-standing apathy, and participate actively in the 2023 general elections.

“As part of our preparations, INEC had on 12th November, 2022 commenced a nationwide display of preliminary claims and objections , which shall end on the 25th November, 2022.

“Therefore, I want to use this medium to call on registered voters to visit our local government headquarters to actively participate in the exercise using our online link.”