A gubernatorial aspirant in the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Oyo State, Adeolu Akande, has started a campaign for residents to collect their permanent voters cards.

Mr. Akande at the weekend took billboard spaces across the state for public service messages admonishing residents to collect their cards ahead of local elections.

The messages were in English language, Yoruba, Hausa and Igbo languages.

Speaking on the campaign, a spokesman for the campaign organisation, Akeem Adetoyese, said the campaign became necessary because of the high number of PVCs that remain uncollected in the state.

He said INEC records in the state indicate that 649,000 PVCs remain uncollected in the state. Total number of votes cast in the 2015 gubernatorial election in the state was about 800,000 votes, he said.

“We cannot afford to leave the mobilisation of voters to register and collect their PVCs to INEC alone. This is the duty of all and that is why we have taken it on as our social responsibility,” he said.

He said the Adeolu Akande Campaign Organisation is concerned about good governance in the state and believes the starting point for electing credible people into government is for eligible voters to register to vote.

“Prof Akande is committed to the emergence of credible leadership in the state and also believes in the right of the people to elect the candidates of their choice. They can exercise this right only when they duly register to vote.

“He also believes that a good number of our youths who turned 18 years only after the 2015 elections will be qualified to vote for the first time in 2019. We are embarking on this initiative to mobilise them to register so that they can discharges their civic responsibility and help install a good government at all levels during the 2019 elections,” he said.

Mr. Adetoyese said the campaign was not limited to outdoor campaigns, but includes broadcast media and advocacy outreach particularly to youth groups and academic institutions in the state.

“We are counselling our youths that the ‘likes’ in Social Media platforms will not be counted in the elections. What will count are the votes and they can only vote when they register for the elections.

“We are telling them that their complaints on government performance will be futile if they don’t register and vote in elections. They should register and vote,” he said.