By Kamsi Anayo
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has extended the deadline for the collection of permanent voter cards (PVCs) to Feb. 5.
This is the second time electoral umpire will extend the deadline for PVC collection. The previous deadline was Jan. 29.
In a statement on Saturday, Festus Okoye, National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter education committee, said the decision was taken after a meeting on Saturday.
The statement reads, “The Commission met today, Saturday, 29th January 2023 a day after its meeting with the Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) from the 36 States of the Federation and the Federal capital Territory, Abuja and deliberated on a number of issues, including the reports from RECs on the ongoing collection of Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs) in its 774 Local Government Offices nationwide,” the statement reads.
“It will be recalled that at the meeting with RECs on Friday, 28th January 2023, the Chairman of the Commission, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu indicated that the Commission will not hesitate to consider additional measures to ensure that all citizens have ample opportunity to collect their PVCs ahead of the General Election.
“Having reviewed reports from all the States of the Federation, the Commission is encouraged by the progress made so far as more Nigerians troop out daily to collect their PVCs.
“Arising from reports from the various States and discussions with Resident Electoral Commissioners, the Commission has decided to further extend PVC collection in all its Local Government Offices nationwide by an additional one week.”
Our correspondent who monitored the PVCs collection exercise in various collection centres in Abuja discovered that a good number of those who visited the collection centers were disappointed.
While there are many PVCs awaiting collection, thousands of people were turned back as the PVCs have not been printed.
The Network had reported that Indepedent National Electoral Commission was on the verge of disenfranchising hundreds of thousands of prospective voters in Nigeria unless urgent steps are taken to remedy a dire situation.
The Network investigation revealed that many prospective voters who transferred their voting units are affected as their cards are not printed by the INEC.
While some people were lucky to have got their cards, INEC officials simply told their less fortunate prospective voters that the cards were not printed.
The Network correspondent who was also affected presented a slip from INEC after the transfer of his voting unit from Wuse Zone 5 to Gwarimpa in the FCT without any convincing explanation.
The INEC officials simply said those affected should wait while admitting that producing PVCs is beyond them.
Disturbed by the increasing prospect of disenfranchisement, the Network contacted the INEC Commissioner in charge of Information and Voters Education, Mr Festus Okoye, on January 6, 2023. Okoye read the message on WhatsApp but ignored him.
Okoye responded to another message sent to him on WhatsApp on Friday January 20, promising to check and revert.
Curiously, seven days after, Okoye had refused to provide explanation on the predicament of those who successfully transferred their voting units to new locations with their cards not printed.
As it stands, the inquiry to the Commissioner for information and voter education of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Festus Okoye, did not yield any fruitful result.
Okoye simply said he would check and revert. Since then he has refused to respond to messages on the matter thereby signifying that INEC has no solution to the seeming deliberate disenfranchisement of eligible Nigerian citizens from voting in an election.
“Good morning Sir. I went INEC to collect my PVC but was told it was not printed. I have done a successful transfer of the polling unit. Do I use my old voter card to vote in the new point or do I use it to vote in the former. I am confused now that the transfer has been made.
“Please kindly advise at your own convenience what I should do in this situation where I am facing possible disenfranchisement.”
Thank you Sir.
Sadly, Okoye could not respond to the inquiry and has continually ignored all message to him.
A similar message to the Chief Press Secretary to the Chairman of INEC, Mr Rotimi Oyekanmi, did not yield any result.
The INEC Chairman’s spokesman neither picked his calls nor did he respond to message to his mobile telephone on WhatsApp.
Meanwhile, the Chairman of INEC, Prof Mahmoud Yakubu has insisted that no eligible voter in Nigeria will be allowed to cast vote in the forthcoming general elections without a Permanent Voter Card (PVC).
Thousand of people whose cards were scheduled for printing but were not are facing disenfranchisement.
With the transfer of their polling units, their old voter card seems invalidated. Even the INEC Commissioner in charge of information and voter education does not seem to have an answer to this situation.
