Indigenes and residents of Bayelsa State on Saturday turned out en masse at collections centres for the Permanent Voter Cards to beat the Sunday deadline by the Independent National Electoral Commission.
Bayelsa State Government, led by the State Governor, Seriake Dickson, and the pro-Jonathan group, Transformation Ambassadors of Nigeria, embarked on last-minute sensitisation to woo eligible voters to collect their PVCs.
Traditional rulers were not left out as they provided some logistics for officials of INEC in their domains to aid performance and issuance of voter cards to indigenes.
A visit to some parts of the state showed an increase in the number of eligible voters coming out to collect their cards six days before the presidential elections.
Commenting on the development, Coordinator of TAN, Bayelsa State, Wenipire Seibarugu, said the rate of collection of the PVCs had improved.
He, however, urged the INEC to ensure that PVCs for all registered voters in the state were made available for collection to avoid being disenfranchised.
Seibarugu, who was a Deputy Governor in the State, said TAN would work with all critical stakeholders in Bayelsa to ensure President Goodluck Jonathan got 100 per cent of the votes at the poll.
According to him, Bayelsans have no choice but to come out en masse and vote for President Jonathan, adding that voting for him is a duty every Bayelsan owes him as a worthy Ijaw person.
Seibarugu, in reacting to criticisms against the Jonathan administration, said he (Jonathan) had performed creditably well and deserved massive support from Nigerians irrespective of political affiliations.
He noted that when re-elected, Jonathan would place Nigeria within the top 10 economies in the world.
He urged Bayelsans to take advantage of the extension of the collection of the PVCs and ensure that they collect their PVCs to vote for President Jonathan.
Seibarugu commended Mrs. Patience Jonathan for mobilising Nigerian women to vote massively for Jonathan.
