The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has released the total number of permanent voter cards(PVCs) collected across the federation, as activities reached the climax towards having a hitch free general elections, starting this Saturday.
In all, 87.209 million PVCs were collected by the Nigerian electorate as of February 5, 2023, which amounted to 93.3 percent collection rate in view of the 93.469 million Nigerians who were initially registered by INEC.
By collecting 6.214 million PVCs, Lagos State led the table of the PVCs collected in Nigeria, coincidentally, it is the home of the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC). However, PVCs collection rate in Lagos State stood at 88 percent, which is below the national PVCs collection rate of 93.3 percent.
Kano State is second on the table with 5.594 million PVCs collected as of the reference date, representing 94.5 percent of the registered voters in that state. Kaduna State is in third position with 4.164 million PVCs collected, representing 96.1 percent collection rate.
Katsina State, the home of President Muhammadu Buhari is fourth with 3.459 million PVCs collected, amounting to 98.4 percent collection rate.
Rivers State occupies the fifth position with 3.285 million PVCs collected to date, representing 92.9 percent collection rate.
The top five states in terms of PVCs collected including Lagos, Kano, Kaduna, Katsina and Rivers collectively have 22.719 million PVCs among them, representing 26 percent of the total PVCs collected in Nigeria. Invariably, what this means is that for every four votes cast on election day in Nigeria, one will come from the aforementioned five states.
The bottom five states by PVCs collection are Gombe, 1,534 million; Abuja, 1.476 million; Yobe, 1.347 million; Bayelsa, 1.009 million and Ekiti, 958,052 PVCs collected.
In Edo State, 2.128 million PVCs were collected out of 2.501 million Edolites that registered, implying a collection rate of 85.1 percent, which is below the national collection rate.
By geopolitical zones, 21.445 million PVCs were collected in the north west out of 22.255 million that registered, which is a region most analysts have regarded as the battle ground. This translated to a regional collection rate of 96.4 percent. This is the region of the vice presidential candidate of Labour Party, Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed.
The south west geopolitical zone has 15.536 million PVCs collected, out of 17.958 million that registered, leaving the region with a collection rate of 86.5 percent.
The north central geopolitical zone has 14.603 million PVCs collected out of 15.363 million residents that registered, implying that the region has a collection rate of 95.1 percent.
South-south residents collected 13.284 million PVCs out of 14.440 million residents that registered, leaving it with a regional collection rate of 92 percent. This is the region of the vice-presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the person of Senator Ifeanyi Okowa.
The north east geopolitical zone which is the home of the presidential candidate of PDP, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, and the vice-presidential candidate of APC, Senator Kashim Shettima, has 11.937 million collected PVCs, out of 12.542 million that registered, translating to a regional collection rate of 95.2 percent.
The south east geopolitical zone, the zone of the presidential candidate of Labour Party, Peter Obi, has 10.401 million collected PVCs, out of 10.907 million that registered, with a regional collection rate of 95.4 percent.
The litmus test for INEC holds on Saturday 25 February 2023, the day for the presidential election. Few days ago, the presidential aspirants met in Abuja, to sign the peace accord.
