By Clifford Ndujihe, Olasunkanmi Akoni, Dapo Akinrefon, Charles Kumolu & Gbenga Oke

LAGOS—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.

Residents of Sebiotimo street, Agege, checking for their Permanent Voters Cards at ward 5, Agage Local Government in, Lagos state, yesterday [08-11-14]. Photo: Bunmi Azeez

Residents of Sebiotimo street, Agege, checking for their Permanent Voters Cards at ward 5, Agage Local Government in, Lagos state, yesterday [08-11-14]. Photo: Bunmi Azeez
To cover lost grounds, Lagos INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Dr Adekunle Ogunmola, told Vanguard, 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.

It’s programmed to rig in PDP – APC

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, in what is a clear case of rigging at source.

“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.

INEC has uncovered APC’s rigging game plan –Lagos PDP

Lagos State Chairman of the PDP, Mr Tunji Shelle reacted to the accusation levelled by the APC that INEC was collaborating with the Presidency to rig next year’s election in Lagos, saying: “This is the first time I am seeing the APC complaining, especially the governor. When they were allegedly doing multiple registration, they did not complain. Now that INEC has discovered their game plan by blocking all the loop holes of multiple registration, they are now crying foul. INEC has discovered this but the INEC is not trying to rig the elections neither will the president interfere with INEC.

“I pray that INEC harmonises themselves to ensure that people get their PVCs. It was discovered that some people are hoarding the card but I think INEC should do something about it to ensure that people are not disenfranchised.”

No registered voter has been de-listed in Lagos —INEC

Reacting to the complaints and allegations, the INEC, in a statement by Mr. Kayode Robert Idowu (Chief Press Secretary to INEC Chairman) said no duly registered voter was de-listed in Lagos, noting that the commission was committed to ensuring that every properly registered voter got his / her Permanent Voter Card (PVC) for the 2015 general election.

His words: “Contrary to allegations in some quarters, no duly registered person has been de-listed from the Register of Voters; neither will any be denied his/her PVC. This reassurance is against the backdrop of temporary challenges that have been experienced in the third phase of the distribution of PVCs in some states, which the Commission has been making vigorous efforts to re-mediate.

“INEC has since Friday, November 7, been distributing PVCs to registered voters in nine states across the country under the third phase of the exercise. Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) is scheduled to hold in the same states from Wednesday, November 12 to Monday, November 17, 2014. Similar exercises have already been conducted in 24 other states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) under the first and the second phases of the programme. The Commission deferred the distribution of PVCs in four other states it had earlier listed for this third phase because the cards for those states have not been fully delivered by printers.

“In particular, it is completely false that INEC has removed the records of 1.4 million persons from the Register of Voters compiled in 2011 in Lagos State. It is true that at the end of the 2011 general registration exercise, the Commission announced a figure of 6.1 million registrants in the state. But when that data was subjected to the Automated Fingerprints Identification System (AFIS) software, 82,892 multiple registrations were eliminated. Also, there was the technical challenge of loss of data and incomplete data affecting about one million records – mostly in 1,792 polling units that were identified and made public before the present exercise. That was why the Post-Business Rule figure for Lagos State (on the basis of which PVCs were printed) came down to about 4.6 million registrants.

“For avoidance of doubt, a pre-acknowledged data loss and incomplete data of some registrants is not a ‘conspiracy’ issue as has been alleged by some notable persons. It is a back-end technical challenge that is far from sealing the fate of affected persons, and for which INEC has already put in place measures to ensure redress. The Commission has made provision for eligible persons for whom PVCs could not be printed due to data loss or defective data to come out from Wednesday, November 12th to Monday, November 17th, 2014 for their data to be recaptured during the CVR. In special consideration for the 1,792 polling units in Lagos State where the challenge of data loss is much pronounced, the CVR will take place at the polling unit level, as against the Registration Area (RA) level in other parts of the state.”
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2014/11/lagos-plans-mass-protest-voters-card-distribution/

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