Some residents of major cities across the country on Monday, expressed disappointment over their inability to collect their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs), in spite of the three-day period of grace.
News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) correspondent, who monitored the exercise on the last day in Umuahia, the Abia State capital, reports that the office of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Umuahia North was besieged by a large crowd of people in a last minute effort to collect their PVCs.
It was learnt that some people, who got to the INEC office early in the day, could not collect theirs due to some problems, ranging from double registration to omission of their names.
Some of them told NAN that they were advised by INEC officials to wait, hoping that more PVCs would be delivered to the office before the end of the day.
Mrs Victoria Amobi, a trader said, “I came here since morning, waiting to collect my card, only to be told to come back for it after the elections.”
Mr Onyebuchi Onyekachi also regretted his inability to collect his, even after he allegedly abandoned his assignment for the day to be at the INEC office. “They checked my temporary voter card and told me the PVC was not ready. It is now 3:50 pm and I have been here since 8:30 am. “For me, it is a wasted effort,” Onyekachi lamented.
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An elderly woman, Mrs Vioet Okezie, expressed regrets that she could not collect hers, in spite of making several attempts.
“I was here by 9am, now is 4:05 pm. I came all the way from Nkwoegwu and have been under the sun, in spite of my ill-health, all to no avail,” she said. She said that she had made up her mind to go back home and forego her right to vote during the polls.
Meanwhile, an INEC official told NAN that additional 200 PVCs were brought to them by 3: 00pm and were being distributed to their owners.
The complaint is the same in states like Bauchi, Plateau, Lagos, Ekiti, Edo, Sokoto, Benue, Taraba, Borno, Adamawa, Ondo among others. Some people are alleging that the PVCs have been “purchased” by politicians who want to use them to rig elections. Others believe that some ruling parties in some states have connived with INEC officials not to release the PVCs to areas that they would be disadvantaged, that is places where their opposition has upper hand.
This is despite claims by Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) during press conferences that the PVCs were ready for collection. During such press conferences, the RECs announced disturbing figures of uncollected PVCs. For instance, the REC in Benue, Nentawe Yilwatda, in his latest update at the time of this report, indicated that 420,038 PVCs were yet to be collected. The REC in Osun State, Mr. Olusegun Agbaje, confirmed that as at January 28, 2019, 1,259,733 PVCs (74.90 per cent) had been collected out of 1,681930 PVCs, leaving a balance of 422,197 PVCs (25.10 per cent) with INEC.
INEC has said there will be no extension from today, which is informed by the need to tidy up matters and concentrate on other preparations with elections now only a week away. We urge voters who have not collected their PVCs to take advantage of the remaining hours and do so.
NAN reports that some people were still waiting patiently to collect theirs at the time of filing the report, while others who could not wait, left the premises complaining bitterly. (NAN)
