Sloppiness in the distribution of the permanent voter cards by the Independent National Electoral Commission together with delay in the printing of the cards may deny over 20 million registered voters their right to vote in next month’s general election.
Going by official pronouncements by INEC, the collection of the PVCs at the electoral wards across the country technically ended on Saturday, though there was a window for continuous distribution of the cards. But INEC’s Resident Electoral Commissioner for Cross River State, Dr. Okey Ezeani, told members of the Inter Agency Advisory Committee on Voter Education last month that collection of the PVCs will end on February 8.
Chief press secretary to the INEC chairman, Professor Attahiru Jega, Mr. Kayode Idowu, told THISDAY on Saturday the commission will this week announce an official closing date for the PVC collection exercise.
The commission announced recently that it had registered 68,833,476 voters but received 54,341,610 printed PVCs, of which 38,774,391 (71.4%) had been collected by their owners as of January 7. From these figures, 14,491, 866 (21%) of the voter cards were yet to be printed and received by INEC, while of the PVCs received by the commission, 15,567,219 (28.6%) were yet to be collected by their owners. This meant that overall, 30, 059, 085 eligible voters (43.7%) were yet to have their PVCs.
INEC later announced it had distributed 42,773,39 PVCs (62.15%) to eligible voters nationwide, leaving a total of about 26 million PVCs either yet to be collected or printed.
With only 13 days to the start of the elections on February 14, it is not clear if there has been appreciable improvement in the printing of the PVCs and their collection, especially, given the harrowing experiences of prospective voters at the various PVC collection centres nationwide.
Distribution of PVCs continued at the local government offices of INEC at the end of the collection exercise at the polling unit level by late last year. Then on Jan 9, the commission ordered the decentralisation of the distribution of PVCs to ward levels to enhance access by persons who were yet to collect their cards.
But many people have still not been able to collect their PVCs at the wards due to a cocktail of issues, ranging from administrative lapses by the commission to corrupt practices at the ward collection centres. Investigation revealed that officials at many of the centres had deliberately made the exercise rowdy and harrowing to create opportunities for the extortion of persons who came for their PVCs.
There is also concern about the fate of internally displaced persons, especially in the three North-east states of Adamawa, Yobe, and Borno. INEC says it has made provision for one million IDPs in only the officially designated camps in the three states to vote in the coming elections. But the number of IDPs has kept mounting with the fresh attacks by the Boko Haram insurgents and the sacking of a growing number of communities. Besides, the whole arrangement leaves the thousands of IDPs in states outside the above named three unable to vote.
Although, last December, INEC raised a taskforce to facilitate arrangements to enable IDPs cast their votes in the forthcoming general election. The taskforce, which has a National Commissioner, Mrs. Thelma Iremiren, as chairperson, consists of nine other members, including the Resident Electoral Commissioners of Borno, Yobe, and Adamawa states.
Last month in London, the National Security Adviser to President Goodluck Jonathan, Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd), advocated a postponement of the general election based on the issues around the PVC distribution.
READ MORE HERE; http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/concern-as-over-20m-voters-yet-to-collect-pvcs/200655/
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