Jega, Fashola
Many residents of Lagos State have expressed their frustration over bid to collect their PVCs in preparation for the forthcoming general elections, Fisayo Falodi writes
The seemingly poor handling of the permanent voter cards distribution in some parts of the country by the Independent National Electoral Commission has elicited reactions from various stakeholders and eligible voters.
The stakeholders described the exercise as deliberately programmed to fail so as to deny millions of Nigerians the right to elect their leaders in the much awaited 2015 general elections.
The shoddy and untidy nature of the permanent voter cards distribution, according to the stakeholders, may prevent eligible voters from participating in the polls.
The poor distribution of the PVCs also renewed the rivalry between the ruling All Progressives Congress and the opposition Peoples Democratic Party in Lagos State as both parties engaged in mudslinging.
The exercise, which some analysts believe was fraught with irregularities such as duplication of names, missing names, wrongly spelt names, inadequate materials as well as muddling up of identities, may have defeated the purpose for which the Lagos State Government and its Ogun State counterpart declared last week Friday as work-free day to enable public servants who had registered previously with the INEC for the 2015 general election to collect their voter cards.
The Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, had said that the work-free day was expedient because of the importance of the forthcoming elections in the life of the people. He added that the prosperity and the brighter future the people were seeking for themselves and for their children would be determined by their willingness or otherwise to sacrifice time to key into the election process by collecting their permanent voter cards for the polls.
Like its Lagos State counterpart, the Ogun State Government asked all eligible voters to collect their PVCs, including residents who lost their temporary voter cards but have their details on the database.
Stressing that it is committed to ensuring that every resident exercises his or her civic responsibility, the Ogun State Government had said that the presentation of the card is one of the pre-conditions for all transactions with public institutions such as ministries, departments and agencies, among others.
But the people were disappointed last Friday and early in the week when they trooped out to collect their PVCs at the designated centres and many of them could not get their cards as a result of some hitches.
The people, who expressed their frustration over the collection of the PVCs, said that the INEC did not prepare very well for the exercise despite the fact that the electoral body had enough time to do so.
Many of the eligible residents who have yet to collect their PVCs shared their frustration with Saturday PUNCH.
When Saturday PUNCH visited a PVC registration centre at Olaleke Taiwo Street, Ojodu, Lagos on Monday, the place was not only rowdy, but people complained of not seeing their names on the list even though that was where they registered.
A man who simply identified himself as Kolawole said, “This is where my wife and I did our registration, but I cannot find my name on the list. I hope this is not part of plans to disenfranchise those of us whose PVCs are not available for collection.”
Another resident of the area, Taiwo Folorunsho, complained that his name was not spelt correctly and it would make it difficult for him to use the PVC as a means of identification. He expressed the fear that on the day of election it would be a hindrance for him to vote.
He said, “My name is Taiwo Hassan Folorunsho, but Taiwo Hassan Folorun was written on my PVC. I doubt if I can use the card for identification during the election and for other purposes, especially for financial transaction.
“I just hope I will not be denied ownership of the card because even the photograph on it is not clear.”
To 38-year-old Sade Okanlawon, her first name was written where her surname is supposed to be. She said that when she asked if the error could be rectified she was told she would need to re-register to get a new card.
Okanlawon said, “I am Folasade Okanlawon but as you can see on my card, the INEC wrote Okanlawon Folasade and this makes it look as if my surname is Folasade. When I showed the INEC officials the error, they said that there was nothing they could do except I register for a new one. I am confused because I don’t even know what to do.”
Registered voters in Egbeda area of Lagos State still attempted to collect their cards not knowing that their local government area, Alimosho, was not part of the area where the exercise held. They said INEC officials did not come to the area for the PVCs’ distribution.
A teacher, Mr. Babatunde Omituyi, 43, said he had visited the registration centre for more than three times to get the card, but he did not see any INEC official on ground.
“I work with a private school and I sought permission from the management of the school on Monday to enable me to collect the PVC, but to my surprise, I did not see any INEC official at the designated centre for the collection of the card,” he said.
A gospel singer, Mr. Gozie Iroh, said he was not sure the electoral body was ready for the conduct of the 2015 general elections.
He said, “It is so painful; I don’t know what is happening. I have a feeling that the INEC has yet to get things right at this stage.
“I just hope the INEC will make the PVCs available as it has promised.
“I am eager to get the permanent voter’s card not only because I would want to perform my civic right during election, but as a means of identification just like the passport. I don’t want to be caught unaware.”
Eligible voters at Amaddiyya area of Ijaye-Ojokoro, Lagos, who did not only flay INEC for the poor handling of the PVCs distribution, asked the electoral body to wake up to its responsibility.
The residents, who had earlier registered for the PVCs, became furious when they were told by the INEC officials that their cards were not ready.
According to them, they said the situation did not portray the INEC as a serious and reliable body.
A trader, Mrs. Bodunde Akanni, said, “How can the INEC tell us that our PVCs are not ready when we actually registered for them sometimes ago? Or is the INEC telling us that we are not Nigerians?”
A public servant, who simply identified herself as Peju, sympathised with the over 20,000 pupils of public schools in Lagos State for missing classes last Friday following the work-free day declared by the state government.
“What is the purpose of the work-free day declared by the government when the people cannot get their PVCs? Pupils who should have remained in the classrooms were asked not to come to school to enable their teachers to collect the cards, but INEC flopped the exercise which it organised itself,” Peju said.
At one of the PVCs collection centres in Ketu, Lagos, a young mother, Magdalene Okochu, was left frustrated after waiting for over five hours to collect her card. Her frustration became more pronounced when she discovered that her middle name was spelt wrongly.
She said, “If I knew this is what would happen after waiting for many hours to collect the permanent voter’s card, I would have used that time for something better. I practically abandoned everything else to face this but at the end of the day even my name was spelt wrongly, making it useless as far as I am concerned. I have yet to understand why we must suffer in order to exercise our civil right.”
The poor handling of the exercise sparked off Monday’s protest at the Lagos office of INEC as concerned stakeholders accused the electoral body of attempting to disenfranchise Lagos residents by allegedly hoarding the PVCs.
Social commentators have, however, decried what they described as the poor preparation by the INEC for the 2015 elections. They said that the electoral body should have used the distribution of the PVCs to justify the confidence Nigerians repose in its officials by preventing every iota of doubt over the possibility of conducting credible election next year.
Prof. Solomon Akinboye of the Department of Political Science and International Relations, University of Lagos, Akoka, blamed the situation on logistics, saying that the INEC ought to have adequately prepared for the exercise, considering the fact that the forthcoming general elections are fast approaching.
He said, “Nigeria is a big country and we must have some of these challenges here and there, but the most important thing is for INEC to circumvent the challenges.
“We must also understand the fact that Lagos is a cosmopolitan city; it has many areas one may not even know exists except one moves in. What the INEC needs to do is to extend the period of the PVCs collection so that every eligible voter can be reached with determination and the political will.”
Akinboye also agreed that the INEC officials should partly be blamed for names of eligible voters that were wrongly spelt.
He said, “It is the responsibility of the INEC officials to ensure that all names are correctly spelt. If they don’t understand how some names are written, they should have asked the bearers to spell them because the way some names are pronounced is different from the way they are written.”
For those whose names were wrongly spelt not to be denied their civil right during next year elections, Akinboye urged the electoral body to organise a forum or establish a particular centre where correction can be done.
“The INEC does not have any reason to fail because, aside the money budgeted for it, it has sufficient time to prepare for the exercise,” he said.
A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Mr. Tayo Oyetibo, expressed surprise that the INEC could still fail in spelling names of Nigerians correctly. He believes that for those whose names were wrongly spelt to vote next year, the electoral body should rectify all noted errors in their PVCs.
Oyetibo said, “People with wrongly spelt names cannot vote next year; they should insist that the commission should correct all the errors noticed in the spelling of their names for them to discharge their civil responsibility.”