ogene007:
The only people who against the shift in date are the people who have perfected strategies to unleash violence against the electorate in the northern part of the country, especially against the supporters of the incumbent president. Unfortunately for them, GEJ as the Chief Security Officer of the country has the final say as to when elections can take place with the guarantee of security for the entire process. It is not the call of APC who are simply involved in sheer noise making. Free and fair elections is one in which there is no threat of violence or intimidation against any supporter of any of the political parties, apart from the integrity of the process in itself. The elections will be shifted by 8 weeks to ensure that the process is guaranteed to truly be free and fair. GEJ till 2019.

Justbright:

The Presidency on Friday listed some of the reasons it feels that going ahead with the February dates for the general elections as scheduled by the Independent National Electoral Commission can “throw the country into turmoil and confusion.”

It however said President Goodluck Jonathan would not engage in any form of subterfuge to pressurise INEC to change the dates of the elections.

The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe, stated these in Abuja at a press conference called to clarify the outcome of the Council of State meeting held on Thursday.

Okupe said there was no time during the meeting held inside the Presidential Villa, Abuja, when the chairman of INEC, Prof. Attahiru Jega, insisted on the February dates as quoted by some media reports.

He listed the level of preparedness of the electoral body and security situation in some parts of the country as some of the reasons why it will be wise to revisit the February dates.

On preparation, Okupe said in all INEC’s submissions at the meeting, the only process that was 100% concluded was the preparation and availability of the voters register.

He claimed that all other processes including provision, distribution and collection of PVCs, printing of ballot papers, distribution of verification machines and other non –sensitive materials, recruitment and training of ad hoc staff are all “work in progress.”

He added that Jega himself admitted that given a little more time, INEC would be in a better position to perfect the processes and its readiness for the elections.

He said, “Also in his presentations to the Council, the INEC Chairman, stated clearly that for the electoral process to be free, fair, and credible,  there are other matters which were not under the control of INEC, principal among which is the issue of provision and guarantee of security of lives and properties.

“The Security Chiefs were unanimous in their advice to the Council that it will be impossible for now for them to guarantee security of electoral materials, INEC Staff, and the voting population in the areas currently engulfed by the war against insurgency.”

Okupe said while some opinions were proffered that elections could be allowed to hold on February 14 in 32 states not affected by insurgency, Jonathan made it clear that he would not allow an election where some people will be excluded for no fault of theirs.

He quoted the President as further saying that endorsing such would tend to confirm the falsehood already being propagated in some parts of the country that he was encouraging the war in the North East to ensure that voters in the APC states were not allowed to vote in the 2015 elections.

He added, “For the avoidance of doubt, Nigerians are hereby re-assured that there has never been, and never shall be any plan to cancel the 2015 elections, for any reasons whatsoever. It will not happen, and the May 29th date for the swearing-in is sacrosanct. All talks about interim government arrangement is pure fiction.

“The consideration behind the possibility of change of date is to allow those who may be disfranchised from voting on the 14th February to have an opportunity to exercise their lawful rights to vote and participate in the general elections.

“The new wave of successes being recorded by the Military in the War against insurgency, especially with the arrival of new effective combatant equipment and machinery, plus the newly revamped cross border co-operation with Niger, Chad and Cameroonian Military, offer a very genuine hope that in a very short while, the situation in the affected states will be brought under such reasonable control that will guarantee safety of the electoral process and electorate in the war front region of the North–East at a no distant future.

“We repeat that the only set of people who stand to benefit from a shift in election dates are Nigerians who desire to vote and have not been able to collect their Permanent Voters Cards and other innocent citizens living in the war zone who may not be able to vote on the 14th February.

“We also wish to recollect that in 2003, 2007, and 2011 the elections were held in April, and the hand over date was not affected.

“We therefore challenge the opposition to tell Nigerians in clear terms, what dangers the change of date from February 14th portends to the electoral process or to the Nigerian electorate. It will also be good if the opposition tells us who stands to benefit or be disadvantaged from any shifting of date and how.”

Okupe, while saying that INEC was not fully ready for the elections, dared the commission to direct its Resident Electoral Commissioners to swear to an affidavit to prove their readiness for the polls.

“It will be very re-assuring if the INEC can get its RECs to attach their state of readiness to a sworn affidavit and show it to Nigerians.

“The interest of this government is to ensure that we do not have a rancorous and poorly conducted general elections that will throw the country into turmoil and confusion with the likelihood of an unnecessary internal and external rejection and condemnation,” he said.

Okupe claimed that in Sokoto State, nine local government areas are yet to receive PVC for the continuous voters registration, barely nine days to the election.

He also claimed that the majority of the 960,000 ad hoc staff needed by the commission are yet to be recruited and trained especially on the operations of card readers that are yet to be made available.

He added that Lagos State is yet to receive a balance of about 12,000 card readers for elections


Presidency lists grouse with February polls date
Via Top 20 News Websites.
http://www.punchng.com/news/presidency-lists-grouse-with-february-po

J12:
Jega thinks this election is child's play. I doubt if this man is mentally sound, he doesn't understand that this year's elections are pivotal to our democratic and social progress.

His PVC distribution and collection plan is useless and stupid. I went to INEC office in Area 10 to collect my PVC this morning only to be told I can't collect it because I registered in Enugu. I can't imagine how many nigerians are like me, who registered in a different state in 2010/2011 and left their area of registration permanently thereafter but can't vote in the upcoming elections because Jega can't use his brains properly even though he is a professor.

Jega must go after 2015.


INEC has the sole responsibility of sensitizing and informing eligible voters of the status of the TVC's and PVS. Technology has made it extremely easy to achieve this.

So if I registered as a voter in lets say, in an insurgency infested area like Baga in 2010/2011 and left, you expect me to go back to Baga and collect my PVC?

Or what if registered in lagos in 2011 and I no longer live in lagos and I am now disabled because I have an accident? That means i'm disenfranchised.

Why can't INEC have a centralised and publicly accessible database where users can check the status of their cards. INEC is not the NPC or NIMC, their activities are continuous and important.

ARES:


dude do you have any idea that you live in 2015. why dont you go back to where you open your bank account to withdraw money..... when people are told to embrace technology they resort to name calling

OLADD:


Why are you like this? Is Fashola's PVC in INEC's office, or didn't you hear that he couldn't find his name in the register?

J12:
Jega thinks this election is child's play. I doubt if this man is mentally sound, he doesn't understand that this year's elections are pivotal to our democratic and social progress.

His PVC distribution and collection plan is useless and stupid. I went to INEC office in Area 10 to collect my PVC this morning only to be told I can't collect it because I registered in Enugu. I can't imagine how many nigerians are like me, who registered in a different state in 2010/2011 and left their area of registration permanently thereafter but can't vote in the upcoming elections because Jega can't use his brains properly even though he is a professor.

Jega must go after 2015.


INEC has the sole responsibility of sensitizing and informing eligible voters of the status of the TVC's and PVS. Technology has made it extremely easy to achieve this.

So if I registered as a voter in lets say, in an insurgency infested area like Baga in 2010/2011 and left, you expect me to go back to Baga and collect my PVC?

Or what if registered in lagos in 2011 and I no longer live in lagos and I am now disabled because I have an accident? That means i'm disenfranchised.

Why can't INEC have a centralised and publicly accessible database where users can check the status of their cards. INEC is not the NPC or NIMC, their activities are continuous and important.

Akainzo:



You really have to stop all this your talk about 21st Century if you cannot apply that advancement to think things through.

A PVC is not just a data in a centralized database as elections are Location based. No one or country does what you are advocating as it will make nonsense of the voting system.

Number of registered voters in a particular location is used to determine the winner of that election. For example, if 3 Million Register in PH, 500 cannot decide to go and vote in Owerri as it would distort the data and affect the decision on who won and who lost.
Remember that outside of getting the highest number of votes cast nationwide, a President must also get 25% of votes cast in 2/3 of the states. This implies that the location of the votes matter.

This is why even though the database is centralized, the data is localised.

ARES:


its ok..... i wont resort to name calling with a kid. GEJ win or GMB win, it has absolutely no effect on me or my status. everytime i speak to you so called youths in Nigeria, you all amaze me in a very negative way.

let me educate you a little about centralized data bank.
Because you have a unique finger pint and face structure, dont you think it will be possible that you relocate from Enugu to abj and when you want to pick up your PVC, you give your name, and put in your finger print, that way Inec can print out a new one for you and automatically send a message to void your card in Enugu

Is this really that hard to phantom. but like i said earlier, GEJ or GMB win or lose, get hit by a bus or wins the lottery, it has no effect on me.

you kids need to enter the 21st century..... it has been running for almost 15 years now

Obiagelli:
Why is this government so scared of elections? This problems didn't stop you from holding elections in ekiti and osun

doctokwus:
He has finally shown his hand.
President Jonathan wishes to truncate this electoral process and force himself on Nigerians.
It shd not be allowed to happen.
Why didn't he think of security concerns in the north east while all the killings were going on?Its now he is staring embarrassing defeat in the face,he wants to use underhand tactics to shift this elections.
There would an automatic uplift in Nigeria if by Feb 15 the results would have signalled his defeat;even if he stays till may 29.

Why are you such an irredeemable fool?
But a continuing uncertainty over his status beyond Feb 14 can only cause further havoc,mischief and sinister plots and outright further destruction of the Nigerian economy.
We shd all put pressure on INEC not to put the nation into further misery by shifting this presidential elections beyond Feb 14.
No to shift in any guise!
Febuari!!
God help us fight the enemies of Nigeria and redeem us from this darkness we av been since this govt assumed power.

J12:
Jega thinks this election is child's play. I doubt if this man is mentally sound, he doesn't understand that this year's elections are pivotal to our democratic and social progress.

His PVC distribution and collection plan is useless and stupid. I went to INEC office in Area 10 to collect my PVC this morning only to be told I can't collect it because I registered in Enugu. I can't imagine how many nigerians are like me, who registered in a different state in 2010/2011 and left their area of registration permanently thereafter but can't vote in the upcoming elections because Jega can't use his brains properly even though he is a professor.

Jega must go after 2015.


INEC has the sole responsibility of sensitizing and informing eligible voters of the status of the TVC's and PVS. Technology has made it extremely easy to achieve this.

So if I registered as a voter in lets say, in an insurgency infested area like Baga in 2010/2011 and left, you expect me to go back to Baga and collect my PVC?

Or what if registered in lagos in 2011 and I no longer live in lagos and I am now disabled because I have an accident? That means i'm disenfranchised.

Why can't INEC have a centralised and publicly accessible database where users can check the status of their cards. INEC is not the NPC or NIMC, their activities are continuous and important.

Marvin67:


Thanks. Let me answer your questions.

The truth is, it would never be 100% safe to have elections, and we'd never be 100% ready, but one thing we should also note is that the present situation gives whoever loses, very good reasons to take to court for the annulment of the elections. I don't believe any party would gain or lose if the election is postponed, the one set of people who'd gain are those whose pvc's are unavailable presently.
we're sitting on a timebomb in Nigeria. If election holds next week, the loser has very good reasons to reject the result, which would lead to violence. If it is shifted, it also gives the loser very good reasons to reject it which would also lead to violence. Either ways my bro, we're on a timebomb, but as I said earlier only those who are yet to have their pvc's would benefit from the shifting.

Burger01:
We no gree. Election must hold Febuhari 14th, 2015.
Declare public holiday for collection of PVCs for those who have interest...

hedonistic:


Well said. I also find it ridiculous that even with a PVC, one cannot vote at any polling booth closest to you nationwide. You can only vote in the ward you registered! and collected your voter's card.

So if I have relocated from the area or state that I registered, my PVC is useless on Election day since I wouldn't be allowed to use it in my new location. I need some clarification in this regard.

Obiagelli:

His card is at his polling unit.

tribune.com.ng/news/news-headlines/item/28572-i-won-t-collect-my-pvc-until-lagosians-collect-theirs-fashola

DDeliverer:


Can you throw more light on this?

OLADD:


Fashola's case is just one of the numerous anomalies widely reported. His case was given accelerated hearing apparently due to his status but what's the fate of ordinary Nigerians who were(and are still) faced with similar fate? What do you take from Balarabe Musa's exposé on INEC"s complicity in tilting PVC distribution to favour Buhari's stronghold? If Balarabe (a sworn critic of GEJ) could jettison tribal and political considerations to say a glaring truth, don't you forsee anarchy in the land? The fact is that INEC's rank and file has been massively compromised but Jonathan WILL prevail eventually. Mark my words.

linuxuser:
To those of us agitating of voting just any where simply because you have a Voters card. Unfortunately it does not work like that. I do not know of other countries but at least I know in the UK, you CAN ONLY VOTE IN THE PLACE WHERE YOU REGISTERED. You cannot register at San Gari in Kano and go and vote in Zoo Road in Kano. Of course you can do a postal vote but voting just any where is simply impossible. Simple common sense should tell us that the ability to vote any where will only lead to unimaginable fraud.

sanmibukunmi:
To be frank, I won't be surprised if this elections flops. Inec is obviously not ready but the opposition is putting pressure on the FG. It is this same opposition that will accuse the govt of foul play if the elections turn out bad....why can't we just be patient to do the right things the right way to as to get the very best results.....

Obiagelli:
Why is this government so scared of elections? This problems didn't stop you from holding elections in ekiti and osun

J12:
Jega thinks this election is child's play. I doubt if this man is mentally sound, he doesn't understand that this year's elections are pivotal to our democratic and social progress.

His PVC distribution and collection plan is useless and stupid. I went to INEC office in Area 10 to collect my PVC this morning only to be told I can't collect it because I registered in Enugu. I can't imagine how many nigerians are like me, who registered in a different state in 2010/2011 and left their area of registration permanently thereafter but can't vote in the upcoming elections because Jega can't use his brains properly even though he is a professor.

Jega must go after 2015.


INEC has the sole responsibility of sensitizing and informing eligible voters of the status of the TVC's and PVS. Technology has made it extremely easy to achieve this.

So if I registered as a voter in lets say, in an insurgency infested area like Baga in 2010/2011 and left, you expect me to go back to Baga and collect my PVC?

Or what if registered in lagos in 2011 and I no longer live in lagos and I am now disabled because I have an accident? That means i'm disenfranchised.

Why can't INEC have a centralised and publicly accessible database where users can check the status of their cards. INEC is not the NPC or NIMC, their activities are continuous and important.

Ideyontop:


May God have mercy upon you! I see you have lost your sense of reasoning and blinded by your own selfish opinions.

Forget about PDP and APC and open your eyes to the reality on ground. INEC is not ready!

lucrownt:
Postponing these elections will bring about violence. What has INEC been doing for 4 years?. If someone can please explain this I will be overwhelmingly joyful..

J12:


Honestly, you are the daft one here.

INEC has the sole responsibility of sensitizing and informing eligible voters of the status of the TVC's and PVS. Technology has made it extremely easy to achieve this.

So if I registered as a voter in lets say, in an insurgency infested area like Baga in 2010/2011 and left, you expect me to go back to Baga and collect my PVC?

Why can't INEC have a centralised and publicly accessible database where users can check the status of their cards. INEC is not the NPC or NIMC, their activities are continuous and important.

TunjiMsp:
GEJ till dollar becomes 400naira .I.diot

adioolayi:
This issue of PVC collection has clearly shown that many Nigerians who called themselves literate especially the internet users are not!
Firstly, in 2014 INEC announced that 2011 registered voters should pick PVC and peradventure your name is not on the register, you should do reregistration.
Secondly, INEC made it clear that you can only get your PVC the unit or LG where u registered and thats where you can vote. Additionally, if you've relocated, you should ask for transfer of your PVC to your new place by making a request through your new INEC LGA resident officer.
Finally, all those who registered or reregistered in 2014 their PVC is ready.

With all this information available online even on different forum like NL, some people still find it difficult to get their PVC! So many were nonchalant last year, thinking their 2011 TVC was still valid, only for them to find out that they were actually suppose to reregister! So many also failed to make a request for transfer of their PVC and now they are crying foul!
All I know is that a serious minded Nigerian, who really want to perform his or her civic duty would have played by the rules and instructions of INEC.
INEC is spot on in all her decisions ..Rule is Rule!!!!

PhockPhockMan:
"We therefore challenge the opposition to tell Nigerians in clear terms, what dangers the change of date from February 14th portends to the electoral process or to the Nigerian electorate. It will also be good if the opposition tells us who stands to benefit or be disadvantaged from any shifting of date and how.”



Okupe.

tiamiyukunle69:
As if its Jega that will force voters to pick up their PVCs