EU, INEC, traders urge voters to collect PVCs

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has reiterated its call on Nigerians to pick up their Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs) before the closing date.

Deputy Director, Voter Education Department, INEC, Lakunuya Dorothy-Bello, made the call in Abuja, during a march to sensitise market women and the general public on participation and peaceful elections.

The rally entitled: “the 2000-Strong National Women, Youth and Persons with Disability Walk for Peace and Massive Turnout ahead of 2019 General Elections’’ was held in Wuse Market and Gwagwalada.

The rally was organised by Preventing Election Violence and Education for Inclusion in Nigeria in collaboration with the European Centre for Electoral Support (ECES), Embassy of Germany in Nigeria, INEC, Nigeria Women Trust Fund, Joint National Association of People Leaving with Disability and Market Women.

“They are ready now, go out and pick your PVC because without PVC you cannot vote and I want to assure you that your votes will count,” Dorothy-Bello said.

The National Woman Leader, National Association of Nigerian Traders, Ruth Agbo, cautioned women and traders against selling their votes for “a bag of rice or cubes of seasoning” but urged them to vote wisely.

“PVC is our power; we must vote right, we must not sell our votes,” she told traders at Wuse market in Abuja. “Because if you do, you sell the future of our children and your own future.”

“So, we want to do it right this time and we also want to vote in a peaceful atmosphere,” Agbo said.

The Governance Advisor, ECES, Mr Dominique Weerts, appealed to voters to vote massively on election days and shun electoral violence.

“We are insisting that people have to go out and vote because it is their right. Election Day should be a happy day not a day of violence.

“It is the right of every Nigerian to vote and they should shun all manner of violence,” he said.