PFN, Lagos community leaders seek speedy distribution of PVCs

AHEAD its 13th national biennial conference and 30th anniversary schedule to hold between February 4 and 6, 2015, Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN) has appealed to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to put the interest and posterity of the nation first as it conducts the general elections. 

   PFN, the umbrella body of all pentecostal, evangelical and charismatic churches as well as organisations in Nigeria, made this call yesterday at a press conference held at The Redeemed Evangelical Mission (TREM) headquarters in Lagos. It urged INFEC to issue the remaining Permanent Voters’ Card (PVC) to the owners to avoid disenfranchising eligible voters from performing their civic responsibility of choosing their leaders.

   Likewise, community leaders in Lagos State have deplored the inability of INEC to make the Permanent Voter Cards available to all registered voters, with the elections about two weeks away.

   PFN noted that due to movement of people from all parts of the country, there should be opportunity for them to exercise their civic right during elections. It also called on politicians to be patriotic and abide by the rule of the game as spelt out in the electoral law. 

   In a press statement issued by the Local Organising Committee, Pastor Austen Ukachi, said: “It behooves on our politicians on all divide to be patriotic and abide by the rule of the game as spelt out in our electoral laws. They should eschew political violence and sharp practices. No Nigerian blood should be sacrificed on the altar of political ambition.”

   In a statement issued by the Lagos State Community Development Advisory Council (LSCDAC), the umbrella body of the over 3,0000 Community Development Associations in the state, the General Secretary of the Council, Chief Israel O. Orija, said they were apprehensive of the possible implication of having the mass of the people who were unable to obtain their PVCs disenfranchised and suggested that the INEC releases the cards to community leaders for distribution.

   The LSCDAC said that allowing community leaders to have the PVCs for distribution, will fast track the process and make it possible for all registered voters to obtain their cards before the elections.