Pains of PVC collection in Lagos

• No respite yet after INEC’s extension of date

THERE are sordid tales of woe from many Lagos residents and environs, four days after the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) extended the deadline for collection of Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) to Sunday, February 8, 2015 as they troop out to their various registration centres to collect their PVC without success.

     For these residents, the collection of their   cards, a prerequisite for casting their votes in the February 14, 2015 general elections, has either been deliberately made difficult by some individuals for selfish reasons, or a deliberate plot to smear INEC’s image and efforts towards superintending a successful election.

   At various collection centres in the metropolis, from Ikotun, Idimu, Kosofe, Isolo, Amuwo Odofin, Agege, Ajegunle, Apapa, Badagry, Epe, to Eti-Osa, the situation is not different. 

  Although some of the residents have collected their PVCs, after horrendous and excruciating experiences, several others who are determined to vote are not yet lucky to collect theirs.

   The treatment meted out to residents does not discriminate as it cuts across all social strata and only the determined ones eventually succeed. 

  According to a seasoned administrator and newspaper columnist, Dr. Jide Oluwajuyitan, who only succeeded in collecting his card on Monday,  “it takes tact, will and determination to collect the PVC.”

   Narrating his experience to The Guardian yesterday, Dr. Oluwajuyitan said it took him three weeks of perseverance to collect the PVC and wondered how many Lagosians could put up such spirited efforts to obtain the card.

   According to him, throughout this period, he was being tossed from Kosofe Local Council, to Isheri Grammar School, where he went almost daily without success.

 He said: “When I finally got to Isheri Grammar School in the morning, no INEC official was seen around the centre even though I was number 190 in the list provided, before they eventually came around at about 11. 30a.m.”  

“When it reached my turn, they checked my name and pin code, they saw my picture and name but they told me that my PVC was still in Abuja.

 “ I kept on going there for about three weeks and each time I went, I was told that my PVC had still not come until I complained to Kayode Idowu, who gave me the phone number of the Lagos State Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Mr. Akin Orebiyi. When I called him, the REC told me that since it was not a new registration that my card must be there.”

  “On Monday, I went back and insisted that they should search for the card but the woman at the centre said the card was not there. I was angry and told her that I had spoken to the REC and finally they checked it and got the card.

 “But I found out that my photograph was not with me having misplaced it as a result of the horrific experience.  I went back with my photograph at about 2: 00 pm the same Monday, the official told me that the card has been misplaced but I insisted before they got it and gave it to me.”

  “But how many people can actually go through this to get the card.  Everyday, there are more than 200 people waiting on the queue for the officials just to collect their PVCs without success and yet, Lagos REC has lamented that about 1,800,000 Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs) are yet to be collected out of the four million received by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in the state?” he queried.

   Oluwajuyitan, who said he was able to persevere because he was a retiree who could afford the luxury of the time, added that the same could not be said of other residents, wondering how millions of cards could be collected under the said circumstances within the time of the extension.

  Oluwajuyitan’s experience might not be different from that of voters who registered at Pipeline Centre, Idimu, opposite Idimu Divisional Police Station in Alimosho Local Council, as no single voter has collected the PVC there.

  At the centre, voters who went to the centre, left disappointed without meeting any INEC officials. Further enquiries revealed that the PVCs were not yet ready.

 The situation was the same with a former Idimu resident who relocated with his family to Mowe in Ogun State, only to be tossed around by INEC officials each time he came from Ogun State for the PVC.

 The concerned voter, who pleaded anonymity, said he had gone to the centre four times from Ogun State without success.

 He, however, told The Guardian that he got information from a party agent yesterday that INEC officials would be coming with the cards on Wednesday.

  Also at the council at Ikotun, residents who were able to collect it on Monday, parted with between N100 and N500, before they could collected the PVCs.

 One of them, Akande Odutola, said he paid N200 to collect his only to find out that people were paying N100, instead.

 While expressing his happiness for collecting it after several attempts, he urged INEC to investigate the activities of those engaged to distribute the cards as some of them were deliberately making it difficult for residents to collect their PVCs.

  According to him, it is quite disheartening that some people are deliberately frustrating the efforts of Lagos residents to collect their PVCs while the north has recorded over 80 per cent collection rate.

   Odutola wondered how the officials could distribute the PVCs running to millions within the shortest time.

 INEC, he said, “should liaise with all relevant agencies and volunteers to monitor the distribution of the PVCs to make the extension of the deadline count.” 

 Meanwhile, there have long queues of Lagosians waiting to collect their PVCs at collection centres.

 While admitting that about 50 per cent of voters in Lagos were yet to collect their PVCs, speaking on a radio programme in Lagos yesterday morning, the Lagos state REC, Akin Orebiyi, said more cards have been released, urging people to go to their various polling centres to collect their cards.

  Orebiyi who added that the INEC ad hoc staff have been indicted in the extortion of money for PVCs, urged voters not to give anybody money in return for their cards and any official who insists on collecting money should be reported to the law enforcement agencies.