RELIGIOUS leaders, political and other interest groups have unanimously condemned the ongoing distribution of Permanent Voters Cards (PVC) in Niger State, describing the exercise as appalling, criminal and unacceptable.
In their separate reactions in Minna, they called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to stop the distribution forthwith in the spirit of fairness because the period fixed for the exercise coincided with the Yuletide festivities when a majority of the electorates travel their home states.
Briefing newsmen in Minna on Sunday, the former chairman of the state’s chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Rev. Dr. Mathias Echioda, called on INEC to stop the exercise until all those who might have, or would be travelling for the Christmas return.
And though the hitches experienced in other states were not very pronounced in Kogi, the Executive Director, Centre for Human Rights and Conflict Resolution, Idris Miliki Abdul, has enumerated the shortcomings of the exercise as well as that of the continuous voters registration in the state.
As a civil society liaison officer involved in the PVC distribution in the state, Miliki said there was not enough publicity and that the communication strategy was inadequate.
However, the Kogi Resident Electoral Commissioner, Olusegun Agbaje, told newsmen recently that the commission has distributed 755, 777 PVCs out of the 1,189, 356 received (63.54 per cent), adding that 433, 579 (36.46 percent) was yet to be collected.
He further disclosed that 130, 602 eligible voters have been captured in the continuous registration, while the commission was presently conducting the transfer of voters to enable registered voters seeking transfers to other polling places to do so, and “ so far, 554 inter-state and 272 intra-state transfer applications had been received and are being treated.”
According to Miliki, “the jingle and handbills that were produced couldn’t have covered every place if not for the radio and television live programmes, where voters and some of the electorates phoned in and asked questions on the grey areas, which really paid off,” he said.
In that context, he said, the distribution was to a greater extent successful, though there were hitches in some councils, where some persons collected the cards by proxy as against the law.
Echioda, who is also the coordinator of Niger State CAN think-tank, insisted that if INEC goes ahead with the exercise, it would amount to de-enfranchising Nigerians, especially Christians, who would are celebrating.
He asked INEC to explain why the PVC distribution, which was initially fixed for November 7, then postponed to 28th, and later to December 12 had to be shifted to 19th, querying, “is it a mark of improper planning, oversight, incompetence, or there is a hiding agenda?”
More so, he observed that out of the 1.4 million estimated eligible voters in the state, only 600,000 PVCs were brought for distribution, wondering how INEC would supply the shortfall of 800,000 PVCs before the general election.
Similarly, the state’s All Progressives Congress (APC) chapter told newsmen in Minna that the exercise was a charade, alleging that with its distribution in only 11 of the 25 councils, 70 percent of eligible voters has been disenfranchised.
The chairman, Mohammed Jibrin Imam, told newsmen that the idea of PVC was essentially to reduce rigging and achieve credible result at the forthcoming polls but that the non-availability of the PVCs has created suspicion and tension in the state.
Also, the state’s Inter-party Advisory Council of Nigeria, described the exercise as unacceptable, therefore warned that if INEC goes ahead with the exercise, it would mobilize for the boycott of the 2015 general election.
In a statement in Minna at the weekend, its publicity secretary, Comrade Abdulazeez Salaudeen, condemned the shift in dates as a grand design to disenfranchise many Nigerians, especially Christians who would be observing their Christmas celebration.
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