INEC in For More Trouble, As Electorates Vow To Disrupt Polls In The Wards

Having survived the verbal onslaught from the ruling Peoples Democratic Party with regard to last weekend's Mock test of Smart Card Reader Machines, the Independent National Electoral Commission appears to be in for more trouble.

Several electorates have threatened to disrupt polls in the wards should they fail to collect their permanent voters cards and as such be disenfranchised from the forthcoming general elections in Nigeria.

It beats one's imagination that those threatening fire and brimstone are holding INEC officials responsible for their inability to collect their PVCs, this is despite the fact that the commission bowed down to pressures from above to shift elections in the country by six-weeks.

Investigations by Saturday Independent in some local governments in the southern part of Kaduna State showed that most registered voters have, despite several attempts to get their PVCs could not.

A registered voter in Sanga Local Government Area of the state, Joe Janda, in a telephone interview, said: "I have, since the commencement of the PVC collection, went to the venue over 10 times with my temporary voter card (TVC) so that I can get my PVC, but till now I have not gotten it.

"I have two wives and children who are eligible to vote, but it is only one of my daughters that has been able to get her PVC. Those in charge keep telling us that we should come tomorrow, but till now, we have not gotten our cards."

When asked whether he and his wives are the only ones affected, Janda said: "It is not peculiar to me. Many people in our village and other neighbouring villages have not gotten their PVCs too."

In Ibadan, Oyo State capital, the INEC spokesman, Ayodele Folami, said that as at Thursday, the commission had distributed 1,646,109 PVCS out of the available 2,381,102 PVCS (amounting to 69.13 per cent) leaving a balance of 734,993 PVCS to be collected.

The Assistant National Secretary of Yoruba Council of Elders (YCE), Bayo Olateju, told our reporter that it would be foolhardy to expect 100 per cent collection of PVCS before the elections in view of the non-static nature of human beings.

He said: "From my personal experience, two of my children, who registered during the last registration exercise, are no more in the country. So their cards are likely to be among those cards yet to be collected."

The spokesman of INEC in Abia State, Edwin Enabor, said that over 84 per cent of the registered voters in the state have collected their PVCs and the commission was excited about the development.

According to him, the electoral umpire in the state was now more than ready to conduct the elections, adding that with all the preparations, the execrcise would be very free and very fair, such that it would exceed the expectations of many skeptics.

In Port Harcourt, Rivers State, those who spoke with our correspondent said that they had visited the PVCs distribution centres without getting their cards, a clear indication that they would not participate in the forthcoming elections.

An artisan, Johnson Briggs, said: "This is very annoying. INEC keeps telling Nigerians that they are ready for the elections but many people are yet to collect their cards. What are they going to use to vote?

"This election is very important for everybody and I will not be happy if I don't vote just because I don't have a PVC. I think that Prof. Attahiru Jega should allow the use of the temporary voter cards (TVCs) so that those who could not get their PVCs could participate in the elections."

When contacted on phone, the Public Relations Officer of INEC in the state, Tonia Nwobi, said that even after the elections "people will still complain. Such complaints are expected.

"Please help us tell them that PVCs are distributed at wards. They should go there and sort out their cards."

In Owerri, a tricycle operator from Oru East Local Government Area, Onyedinma Obiwuru, warned that unless the PVCs are evenly distributed before the dates for the election, the whole thing would amount to an exercise in futility.

"Everybody is interested in the election but the problem is that till now, some areas have not received the PVCs, which is the only instrument for one to cast his vote. I had expected that by now, all arrangements would have been concluded so that some people will not be disenfranchised."

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