Lagos plans mass protest over voter’s card distribution

For the third day running, the polity was awash with complaints over the unending hitches trailing the distribution of Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs) by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in some states of the country especially in Lagos.

The main opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) and its National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, threatened to embark on a mass protest against what they called INEC’s “deliberate” plan to rig 2015 general polls for the presidency.

The hiccups elicited mixed feelings from some prominent Nigerians. While many chided the electoral umpire for shoddy handling of the exercise, others said the commission was trying all it could to make the process better.

To cover lost grounds, Lagos INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Dr Adekunle Ogunmola, said the exercise will continue in the 11 local councils which cards are available today. In the 11 councils, he said there are 4611 polling units and of this figure, he said 1072 polling units have severe problems. He advised those who could not find their names in the register to come out for the Continuous Voters Registration exercise on Wednesday.

For the remaining nine local councils, which have 3861 polling units, the cards will be distributed between November 28 and 30. In these councils, he said 731 units have serious problems and the CVR will hold between December 3 and 8.

According to him, INEC is making efforts to ensure that all eligible voters get their PVCs.

Hitches are deliberate –Tinubu

Senator Tinubu, who doubted INEC’s sincerity described the exercise as a “failure,” because field reports, personal experiences and observations from different parts of Lagos showed that the exercise “has failed and is unacceptable.”

His words: “INEC is responsible for awarding contracts for the production of the cards to whomever. Do not forget that in 2011, we sympathized with the cry of (Professor Attahiru) Jega, apologizing to Nigerians on the presidential election result that was aborted because they failed to bring materials on time. Now they have enough time for four years to have learnt their lessons. This is deliberate as far as I and APC are concerned. Just as we merged to form a formidable opposition party, they (INEC) have merged with Jonathan to form a formidable rigging body.”

Tinubu who vowed that the party would resist all plans by the presidency through INEC to disenfranchise the electorate, said the party would soon take to the streets to condemn the exercise and demand for a proper distribution exercise.

Speaking in like manner, the APC alleged that the process was intentionally programmed to fail in order to disenfranchise voters in the 12 states with the highest number of voters.

In a statement issued in Lagos, yesterday, by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said the fact that most of the 12 states in which the process has been largely botched in the past three days have the highest number of voters and are under the control of the APC point to a clear collusion between INEC and the (Peoples Democratic Party) PDP.

It said most registered voters were unable to collect their PVCs because INEC engaged in a programmed incompetence to swing the elections in favour of the PDP.

“There is no doubt that this programmed incompetence has emanated from just one source, the ICT unit of INEC, with the intent of sabotaging the PVC distribution process in key states, hence we are calling on INEC Chairman Attahiru Jega to institute an internal inquiry into the botched exercise with a view to fishing out the fifth columnists who are behind the sabotage, and meting out the necessary punishment to them.”

The party said it is curious that most of the affected states (Kaduna, Kano, Edo, Plateau, Ogun, Imo, Borno, Rivers, Lagos, Nasarawa, Katsina, Niger) are either opposition strongholds or harbour the highest number of voters.

Meanwhile, most of the residents who were yet to collect their PVCs have called for extension of the exercise for at least five more days to ensure that all eligible voters got their cards.

Mr. Lekan Oshinade, who has collected his card narrated how he suffered to get the PVC: “There was so much shoving and tossing around. The whole cards were not properly sorted. At least, the cards should have been arranged alphabetically for easy identification. A lot of people could not locate their cards. Without additional days the whole process will be a failure.”

Mr. Wole Oderinde, who is yet to collect his PVC in one of the polling centres in Ikeja told Vanguard: “I am yet to collect the PVC. When I got there, the INEC official could not find my PVC. I don’t think the three days will be enough to cover all the people, there is need for extension.”

There is confidence deficit in INEC –Bugaje

Commenting on the issue, Bugaje said: ‘’I am just worried. They have not come to my state. They postponed it. What is playing out has shown that INEC has not been too independent as it should be. What is happening shows that the commission has confidence deficit. They have to work hard and improve because people don’t trust them. It is important that they improve.’’