Group tasks INEC on improved PVC, BVAS, sets agenda for Soludo

The PVC Support Group for Soludo has charged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on the need to improve its facilities and services to deepen democracy and rule of law in the country.

Led by a chieftain of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Chief Benjamin Ezeweputa, the group stated this in an interview with The Guardian in Awka, yesterday, lamenting that INEC failed to deliver in the use of Permanent Voter Card (PVC) and the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) during the Anambra State governorship election.

“Many newly-registered voters were unable to participate in the election due to late issuance of PVCs and failure of the BVAS system on elections day, which frustrated many voters. Technology is supposed to make things easier, but the reverse was the case in the Anambra poll,” he said.

He also attributed the voter apathy in the November 6 2021 governorship election to failure of BVAS, which, he noted, left many stranded, in addition to fear of violence that kept most of the electorate away from voting.

Ezeweputa also reminded the governor-elect, Prof. Charles Soludo on high expectations of Anambra people, stressing that he (Soludo), who contested the governorship seat in the past, promised that he would model Anambra after Taiwan and Dubai.

He pointed out that Soludo had already set the bar for himself with his manifesto on the basis of which he contended, adding that Anambra people voted for him with the expectation that he would deliver on his promises of economic agenda, especially in youth development, agriculture, health sector transformation, tourism and security, among others.

“With the right team backing him, everything in his manifesto is achievable. My only expectation is for him to select the right team on the basis of merit to work to achieve his vision of making Anambra the ‘African Dubai.’
Ezeweputa said Governor Willie Obiano had played his part in the development of the state, with his four pillars of development, which revolved around agriculture, industrialisation, trade, commerce and oil and gas.

He urged Soludo to adopt Obaino’s continuity mantra, who he said, performed well in agriculture, such that the state has grown a wholly indigenous brand of rice called Anambra Rice.