INEC distributes 52.2m PVCs, Ondo kicks

THE Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) yesterday said it has distributed a total of 52,233,396 Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs) out of the 68.8 million cards that were given to the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory for the 2015 elections.

  INEC, in a statistics it released yesterday on the distribution of the PVCs, indicated that as of yesterday, February 17, the commission has distributed about 75.8 per cent of the PVCs, stressing that Lagos State has received the highest number of cards having collected a total of 3.6 million out of the 5.9 million registered voters in the state.

  It also indicated that Zamfara State leads the list with 97 per cent, having distributed a total of 1.45 million out of the 1.9 million registered voters.

  Also, Nasarawa and Gombe states’ voters have recorded an impressive turnout in the collection of the cards, having collected about 96 per cent and 95 per cent of the cards respectively while the commission has distributed 95 per cent of the cards in Kaduna, Jigawa and Katsina states.

  Also, over 85 per cent of the PVCs have been distributed in Akwa Ibom, Adamawa, Baluchi, Kebbi, Sokoto and Taraba states while Ogun State is the least in the states where the cards have been distributed with only 40 per cent to the respective voters as of yesterday.

     However, a fresh alarm has been raised by the Ondo government over INEC’s inability to make available PVCs in over 60 poling units in the state till date despite the postponement of the general election.

  Addressing newsmen in Akure yesterday, the state’s Information Commissioner Kayode Akinmade said the Akure government has discovered that INEC was yet to make the PVC available in 22 poling units in Owo local council alone with another 18 still being denied the same voting material in Ondo East LGA. 

 He disclosed that there were also about other 150,000 eligible voters whose names appeared on INEC register but are yet to get their PVCs, even with no hope of getting it before the elections hold next month.

   The government said the expectation of the many who are yet to get their PVC diminish by the day as there is no hope of them getting it before the elections.

   He went on: “It is the same response people got from INEC before the postponement of the elections that they still get with no hope of INEC making the PVC available anytime soon. It’s the same old promises upon promises”  

  “ This is not the case of people not going to pick their PVC now, but there is just no PVC to pick up government thus pleaded with INEC to ensure that no one is disenfranchised in the coming elections by  doubling their effort and ensure the material is made available for people to access.”

  It further said that the development has no doubt justified INEC decision to postpone the elections to next month adding that it still beats one’s imagination why some acclaimed leaders of the Southwest would continue to castigate the electoral body for doing the needful by postponing the elections.

  The government described as sheer wickedness against the Southwest people, the condemnation of INEC by Yoruba opposition leaders over its decision to postpone the elections even when it was obvious a good number of the people would not have been able to exercise their civic right as a result of the non-availability of the PVC.

   It stressed that it was worth questioning why INEC would record over 70 per cent success in the distribution of the PVC in insurgency-ravaged areas of the Northeast where residents have deserted their homes while only 40 per cent of people could access theirs in the peaceful Southwest.

  According to the government, the INEC boss, Professor Attahiru Jega has not been able to convincingly justify the high rate of distribution of PVCs in areas of high tension and terrorist attacks as opposed to the Yoruba area where in spite of relative peace, PVCs have been barely available for collection.

  It further registered its displeasure on the provision of the underage in the Northern part with the voting instrument while the qualified in the Southwest waits in vain for same, wondering “why such development will excite the leadership of the opposition in the region if there is no collaboration with the electoral body to prevent the people of the region from making a statement with their votes”

   Insisting that rumours of a recourse by Jega to the announced and rejected polling unit delineation should remain a rumour and must never be allowed as it tended to re – configure the demographics of Nigeria by foul means, the government said it hoped there was no iota of connection between the poor supply of PVCs in the South West and the discredited unfair polling unit allocation. 

 It thus warned that Jega should sit up and reposition himself as a truly fair, unbiased and detribalised umpire or be ready to throw in the towel and safe the country of his apparent parochial ethnocentrist approach. 

    Akinmade had recently decried the inability of many people in Ondo State to obtain their PVCs, just as he said that he would have also been unable to vote  had INEC insisted on the February 14 and 28 dates that the 2015 general elections were originally billed to hold.

    Akinmade while speaking with newsmen in Akure, the state capital, stressed that he and others who have been unable to collect their PVCs  would have been disenfranchised.

  “As we speak I and some members of my household and many others in the state have not been able to get our PVCs because so many others  have complained to me about the same issue. I have made spirited efforts to get the card but to no avail,” he lamented.

  The Commissioner who is also the Sub-Committee Chairman on Media and Publicity for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) campaign in the state, volunteered that the electoral body would have prevented a lot of people who were ready to carry out their civic responsibility from doing so due to no fault of theirs.

Akinmade who applauded the electoral body for postponing the election  said apart from the PVC issue, there are a number of other grey areas which the  body should look into and make amends before the elections hold next month.

“The card reader for instance, there have been reports that its efficiency is still in doubt as it  has not been  properly tested . There is also the issue of the fake that have been rejected by the Resident Electoral Commissioners.

“These and other issues should be addressed before the next month when the elections are expected to hold if we must hold a free and fair election” Akinmade stressed.

The Commissioner praised members of the PDP in the state for their peaceful conduct since the beginning of the campaigns, adding that the party   has  not left anybody in doubt about its preparedness for the polls as well as its mega status  in the state with the kind of campaign and the turnout at  its rallies.  

“No doubt the PDP in Ondo state has been able to hold one of the best campaign since the electioneering period.

“The presidential campaign in Akure was second to none, and the local campaigns have been highly successful. The party has really lived up to its mega status billing.” Akinmade affirmed.