Date: 2019-02-02

The Resident Electoral Commissioner in Kwara State, Malam Garba Attahiru-Madami, on Friday, visited the Ansar-ud-Deen Society of Nigeria Central Mosque in Ilorin as part of the campaign to promote the collection of Permanent Voter Cards.

The REC, who also worshipped at the mosque, told Muslim faithful that had not collected their PVC to do so to enable them exercise their civic duties during the forthcoming elections.

He told the congregation that there still remained 298, 852 PVCs yet to be collected from the 1, 406, 457 registered PVCs in the state.

The REC said a total of 1, 101, 605 PVCs had so far been collected, adding that his target was to ensure that not less than 255, 000 PVCs were collected on or before the Feb. 8 deadline.

According to him, his visit to the mosque was to mobilise the people to collect their PVCs and to carry the message home for those that had not done so.

The News Agency of Nigeria, reports that the Resident Electoral Commissioner would visit two churches in Ilorin on Sunday to mobilise Christians for the elections.

The REC also appealed to all Muslims in the state to pray for peace before, during and after the general elections.

"I call on all Muslims to pray to Allah for peace to reign in the state during the coming elections; peace is very important for the elections," he said.

Attahiru-Madami assured the people of the state that INEC was prepared and ready to conduct the best elections in the state, adding that security agents had been trained to provide adequate security.

He promised to give every political party equal opportunity during the elections.

Attahiru-Madami pledged that votes would count, adding that the commission had made many changes in INEC offices in the state.

"I have made some changes in INEC in Kwara which did not go down well with some people, but I am unperturbed.

"I am ready to step on people's toes to achieve a credible and the most acceptable election in the state," he added.

NAN