The Osun State Government has declared Tuesday, July 28, a work-free day for public servants to enable them collect their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) ahead of the August 15 governorship election.
The directive comes as INEC concludes PVC distribution across the state’s 332 Registration Areas, with collection continuing at its 30 Local Government offices from July 29 to August 7.
INEC had disclosed that only 192,702 PVCs, representing 37.5 per cent of distributed cards, had so far been collected by eligible voters. The Head of Service, Ayanleye Aina, said the directive covers state and local government workers, as well as employees of state-owned tertiary institutions.
According to Governor Ademola Adeleke’s spokesperson, Olawale Rasheed, the decision is aimed at enabling workers “fulfil their civic responsibility by collecting their voter cards ahead of the governorship election and future elections.”
Adeleke urged residents yet to collect their PVCs to take advantage of the opportunity, stressing that “your vote is your power. Your voter’s card is your licence to the ballot paper and, by extension, to the ballot box”. The move comes amid increased political activities ahead of the poll, where Adeleke is seeking re-election against candidates including Bola Oyebamiji of the APC and Najeem Salaam of the ADC.
Meanwhile, INEC has expressed concerns over security challenges affecting the PVC exercise following an attack on its distribution centre in Okuku, Odo-Otin Local Government Area, where an unspecified number of voter cards were reportedly stolen.
The Resident Electoral Commissioner, Oluwatoyin Babalola, assured residents that the commission remained committed to a peaceful and credible election.
“We have deployed various platforms to educate voters on the importance of exercising their civic responsibility. Every vote will count and we encourage all eligible voters to come out on Election Day”, she said.
Babalola added that INEC had identified potential flashpoints across the state and shared intelligence with security agencies to ensure proactive deployment ahead of the election.
