Obinna Odogwu, Abakaliki

Minister of Science and Technology, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, has raised the alarm over alleged house-to-house mop-up of Permanent Voter Cards by a political party (name withheld) and some politicians in Ebonyi State.

Dr. Onu alleged that some politicians lure indigenes of the state and, in some cases, intimidate and collect their PVCs from them with the aim of allegedly using same to manipulate the outcome of the 2019 general election in the state.

The minister alleged this when he hosted leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in his country home in Uburu, Ohaozara Local Government Area of the state.
“Right now, across the state, I am sure you get information that a political party (name withheld) is collecting PVCs from our people.

“What do they want to do with those PVCs they are collecting? And, in some cases, we hear that they will write down the serial numbers and also, get the telephone number of the owners.

“The question that we have to find an answer very quickly is: why are they doing this?

“But, what is important is that we must stop them from doing this because it is illegal.

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“Nobody, by law, is permitted to go and take another person’s PVC,” Onu said.

To put this “abnormality” in check, Onu told the leadership of the APC in the state to set up polling unit officers who would carry out house-to-house sensitization campaign, targeted at enlightening the people on the importance of guarding their voter cards.

“This is why these our polling unit officers should start house to house sensitization.
“It is already in the APC constitution but, we have to be one of the first states to fully implement it.

“And, it is important now, because, if we have these polling units officers who will have a maximum of about 500 persons to look after because the average size of a polling unit is about 500.

“These polling unit officers will be operating within the range of 500 and 1,000. It is easy for the polling unit officers to approach our people on a regular basis more than even the ward, local government, or state officers.

“So, we need to have these officers put in place quickly.
“They will be the ones to help us to stop these illegal collections of PVCs because it has to stop.

“They will also help us identify those people who they already collected their PVCs….”