The Osun State Government has declared Tuesday, July 28, a work-free day for all public servants to enable them collect their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) ahead of the August 15 governorship election.
The directive, announced in a circular signed by the Head of Service, Ayanleye Aina, covers employees in the state civil service, local government councils and state-owned tertiary institutions.
Governor Ademola Adeleke, through his spokesperson, Olawale Rasheed, said the decision was aimed at encouraging eligible voters to obtain their PVCs and participate fully in the forthcoming governorship election as well as future electoral exercises.
The governor, however, directed workers providing essential services, including medical personnel and security officers, to make adequate internal arrangements to ensure uninterrupted service delivery during the work-free day.
He also urged all registered voters who are yet to collect their PVCs to do so without delay.
“Your vote is your power. Your voter’s card is your licence to the ballot paper and, by extension, to the ballot box,” Adeleke said.
The announcement comes as the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) transitions to the second phase of PVC distribution in Osun State.
The electoral commission recently concluded the first phase of the exercise across the state’s 332 Registration Areas and is scheduled to continue distribution at its 30 Local Government offices from July 29 to August 7.
INEC had earlier revealed that only 192,702 PVCs—representing 37.5 per cent of the cards available for collection—had so far been picked up by registered voters across the state, raising concerns over voter participation ahead of the election.
Political activities have continued to gather momentum as parties intensify campaigns for the governorship contest.
Governor Adeleke of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is seeking a second term and is expected to face strong competition from the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Bola Oyebamiji, the African Democratic Congress (ADC) candidate, Najeem Salaam, and candidates of other political parties.
Meanwhile, Osun State Resident Electoral Commissioner, Oluwatoyin Babalola, has assured residents that INEC is fully prepared to conduct a peaceful, transparent and credible election.
Speaking at the Osun Citizens’ Town Hall Meeting in Osogbo on Sunday, Babalola said the commission had completed most of its preparations, with only the arrival of sensitive election materials from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) still pending.
She disclosed that INEC had already recruited ad hoc staff, fixed training schedules and intensified voter education campaigns to encourage greater participation in the election.
“We have deployed various platforms to educate voters on the importance of exercising their civic responsibility. Every vote will count and we encourage all eligible voters to come out on Election Day,” she said.
Babalola also said the commission had identified potential flashpoints across the state, including locations vulnerable to political violence, cult-related activities and communal conflicts.
According to her, intelligence gathered has already been shared with security agencies to facilitate proactive deployment of personnel and ensure adequate security during the election.
She further announced that a mock accreditation exercise would be held on August 1 in four local government areas—one from each senatorial district—to test the functionality of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) before election day.
However, preparations for the poll suffered a setback on Sunday when armed hoodlums attacked an INEC PVC distribution centre in Okuku, Odo-Otin Local Government Area, making away with an unspecified number of voter cards.
The incident has drawn condemnation from INEC, the police and political stakeholders, all of whom have called for a thorough investigation.
The Osun State Police Command confirmed that no arrests had been made in connection with the attack but said investigations were ongoing.
