Fijabi Olanrewaju
IN continuation of preparations for the Edo State Governorship Election holding on Saturday 21st September 2024, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is set to test run the deployment of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and results upload to the INEC Result Viewing (IReV) portal for the election using live voters in select locations in the state.
For this purpose, according to Sam Olumekun, National Commissioner & Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, the Commission has designated 12 polling units across six local government areas (LGAs) covering the three senatorial districts of the state as centres for the mock accreditation.
In Edo Central, the exercise will take place in Eguare Primary School, Eguare 1, and Uwenujie Primary School, Uwenujie, in Esan Central LGA as well as Eguare Primary School 1, Ewohimi, and Eguare Okhuesan (Former L. A. School 1), Emu, in Esan South East LGA.
In Edo North, Usokwi Iyogbe Azama Primary School, Yeluwa, and the polling unit at Institute of Continuing Education Road, Auchi, in Etsako West LGA, are the designated centres, while Uhonmwora Owere Primary School, Uhonmwora-Ora, and Holy Trinity Grammar School, Sabongidda-Ora, will serve as centres in Owan West LGA.
In Edo South, Western Boys’ High School 1 and Ologbosere Primary School 1 are the designated centres in Ikpoba Okha LGA while Idia College I and Payne Primary School 1 will serve as centres for Oredo LGA.
The mock exercise will be held on Tuesday, 10th September 2024, at the designated polling units from 8.30 am to 2.30 pm.
Mr Sam Olumekun further stated that a graphic image containing the names and locations of the centres has been uploaded to our website and social media platforms for public information.
The Commission appeals to registered voters to come out with their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) for the exercise. “Please, note that only registered voters for the designated polling units are invited to participate in the exercise. No voter from another polling unit can be accredited by the BVAS”, the statement signed by Mr Sam Olumekun emphasized.
Meanwhile, the Commission says a total of 125,928 cards were collected by registered voters across all 192 Wards out of the 184,438 new PVCs available, representing 68.3% of the total from the recent Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) conducted in the state. The exercise took place from Thursday, 22nd, to Monday, 26th of August 2024.
Announcing the completion of collection at the Ward level, the Commission says it has carefully packaged all the PVCs by polling units, wards and LGAs. “We also produced the collection register, providing details of the voters whose cards were ready for collection and uploaded same to our website.
“In addition, we contacted them using the addresses provided at the time of registration. As a result, out of the 184,438 new PVCs available, 125,928 cards were collected by voters representing 68.3% of the total. This is the highest percentage of PVCs collected in five days since the Commission introduced the CVR ahead of off-cycle governorship elections in 2015.
“A detailed breakdown of the collection by LGAs has been uploaded to our website and social media platforms for public information.
“Meanwhile, the collection will resume in our 18 LGA offices in Edo State from tomorrow, Wednesday, 28th August 2024 and end on Sunday, 8th September 2024.
“We appeal to the remaining voters to pick up their PVCs in person from our LGA offices”.
The Commission reiterates its policy that no cards will be collected by proxy.
Eighteen-Eleven Media