The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC on Friday broke its silence on the recent development where thousands of Permanent Voters Cards, PVCs were discovered at Nnewi, saying it is not aware of such cards.
The INEC REC in Anambra, Dr Queen Elizabeth Agwu who disclosed this at a briefing, said the INEC and the police are investigating the incident to unravel what went wrong.
Earlier this week, a cache of PVCs belonging mainly to voters from Umudim Nnewi was found dumped at Akammili forest.
A video that showed the recovered PVCs explained in two sacks, also revealed how the PVCs were discovered by a hunter.
It was gathered that when the INEC was not forthcoming, youths of the community negan to sort and distribute the PVCs.
Speaking at the briefing, Agwu maintained that the said PVCs were not discarded by the INEC, noting that the number as seen in the video circulating, is too large compared to the number of voters registered recently in the state.
“I haven’t actually seen the said PVCs aside the videos that are circulating in the social media and we cannot bank on the videos.
“INEC does not know who owns the PVCs.
“INEC and the police are investigating the incident to unravel what went wrong.
“We know that the number of PVCs uncollected when I came into Anambra was around 130,000 and the ones registered is about 120,000.
“From these figures, it is clear that the number of PVCs registered is not anywhere close to the number of the said discovered PVCs,” he said.
The INEC boss in Anambra however noted that all its efforts at conducting a free, fair and credible elections will be a total waste if the people do not turn out enmasse to cast their votes.
Agwu revealed that Anambra INEC has received all the sensitive and non-sensitive materials required for the conduct of the general elections, noting that they have all been deployed to the 21 Local Government Areas, with adequate security arrangements made for their protection.
Assuring that INEC is poised to conduct credible elections in Anambra, the REC said the only challenge will be if the people refuse to come out.
“We are telling our people that INEC has committed to conducting a free, fair and credible elections.
“INEC started preparations for this elections since four years ago.
“We trained our staff, conducted Continuous Voter Education, CVR, upgrade of the BVAs to improve its efficiency among other things we have done.
“So, we are prepared to conduct elections that our people will adjudge as free, fair and credible,” she said.
Agwu appealed to candidates of the various political parties to understand that election is a contest and not war, and shun acts capable of disrupting the elections.
TNC Correspondent reports that over 2.6 million registered voters are in Anambra state, with only about 30000 uncollected PVCs with the INEC, as official statistics from the electoral body shows.
