The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Thursday ruled out another extension of the deadline for the collection of Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs).
INEC initially fixed the deadline for the collection of PVCs for January 22 and later pushed it to February 5.
The INEC’s National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Festus Okoye, who disclosed this on Channels Television’s programme, “The 2023 Verdict,” said it has become impossible to extend the period for the collection of the PVCs with the elections less than 20 days.
He said the commission’s staff are now expected to focus on the preparations for the February 25 presidential and National Assembly election as well as the governorship and State House of Assembly polls coming up next month.
Okoye said: “Unfortunately, this commission can no longer extend the period of collection of the PVCs. This is because we have just 15 days to go for the presidential election.
“Our staff who are in the local government areas and who are the issuance of these PVCs have to move back to what we call regular programming. They have to begin to receive the non-sensitive materials and match these non-sensitive materials in accordance with registration areas and wards and get them ready for D-day.
“They have to also make arrangements for the places where we are going to house the ad-hoc staff overnight before they are deployed at the first light to the various polling units. They have to also inspect the various polling units to make sure that the polling units are fit for purpose and ready for the 2023 general elections.
“So, we have so much to do and we need to get our staff ready for this exercise. The staff are also responsible for the configuration of the BVAS machines in preparation for the elections.”