No fewer than 320 Permanent Voters Cards, PVCs, have been discovered in an uncompleted building in a forest along the Immiringi/Ogbia Road in Bayelsa State.
The PVCs, which were stashed in a bag by hoodlums were discovered by the Nigeria Hunters and Forest Security Service, during their routine patrol in the area on Tuesday.
State Commandant, Nigeria Hunters and Forest Security Service, Moses Okano, who disclosed this in Yenagoa, yesterday, while handing over the recovered PVCs to Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Bayelsa State, noted that upon arrival at the scene, the hoodlums absconded, leading to their discovery of the PVCs.
Okano said: “In our routine patrol, I led the operation on Tuesday. We have been combing the bushes because of the happening we have been hearing in the bushes. We started from Azikoro went through Elebele.
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“In the course of our going round, we ran into an uncompleted building in the bush and we had some noise and with our usual way of operation to ascertain those who are there, the people on sighting started jumping out through the windows of the uncompleted building.
“So, we were able to enter into the building and what we saw was the abandoned voters cards. So, knowing fully well that these are Federal Government property and the only authority empowered or authorized by law to keep custody of these items is INEC, so we have to recover them and decided to bring them to the commission.”
Receiving the PVCs on behalf of the Bayelsa State Resident Electoral Commissioner, the Administrative Secretary of the commission, Okop Umo-Obong, commended the Nigerian Hunters and Forest Security Service for bringing the cards to the commission and for keeping the neighborhood safe.
Umobong said he will hand over the cards to the Resident Electoral Commissioner, Dr. Alex Hart, assuring that the Commission would investigate the circumstances that led to the cards being found in the forest.
He noted that an investigation would determine whether the PVCs were abandoned in the process of printing or they belong to genuine voters.
