Obaseki wants more voting centres in Edo

Gov. Godwin Obaseki of Edo has urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to create more voting centres in the state.

The governor made the call when he received the new Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in the state, Mr Obo Effanga, at the Government House, Benin, on Thursday.

He recalled citizens’ complaints of the long distances they walked to get to voting centres during the Sept. 28, 2016 governorship election in the state.

He said that creation of more voting centres would encourage the electorate to exercise their franchise in future elections, with little time wasted on queues.

The governor said that local government councils and state government agencies would be mobilised to fast-track the distribution of Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs) to registered voters.

He said that it would be done to ensure that the issue of non-collection of the cards from INEC was resolved.

Earlier, the new REC had assured the governor of the commission’s plan to create more voting centres in the state.

He, however, stated that 460, 000 PVCs had not been collected by registered voters in the state.

Effanga appealed to the governor to mobilise people to go and collect their PVCs, and urged those who had attained 18 years and above or had misplaced their PVCs to go and register their names.