... .'Burnt PVCs'll be reprinted, distributed'

The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, yesterday, assured Nigerians that the series of attacks on its facilities in some parts of the country would not in any way affect the credibility of the 2023 general elections.

INEC Chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, gave the assurance during his on-the-spot assessment of the Abeokuta South Local Government Area office of the commission that was set ablaze by unknown arsonists, recently.

Yakubu also assured the people of Abeokuta South local government that none of them will be disenfranchised during the forthcoming elections, stressing that all the 65,699 Permanent Voters Cards, PVC, that were destroyed in the fire disaster would be reprinted and distributed before the elections.

He said: "The purpose of our visit to this office is to further access the extent of damage, to meet our staff, particularly in the place where they have relocated to in Oke-Ilewo, to boost their morale and to assure the people of Abeokuta South that despite this unfortunate incident, elections will hold in Abeokuta South in 2023.

"Whatever materials we have lost, the commission is making efforts to replace them. We lost 65,699 PVCs. We want to assure all those that have not collected their PVCs and may have been affected by the fire disaster that we are making plans to reprint the PVCs quickly and to bring them back to Abeokuta South for people to collect and vote."