Groups protest over hiccups in PVCs collection

Civil society groups on Monday protested to the office of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) over the shoddy distribution of the Permanent Voters Cards (PVC) in Lagos.

The groups besieged the INEC’s office in Yaba, Lagos, at around 9:30 a.m. on Monday with placards protesting what they described as attempt to disenfranchise Lagosians, alleging that the commission was hoarding the PVC from reaching the people.

The protesters chanted solidarity songs, vowing that they would never allow election to be rigged in the state.

There was tight security as scores of armed policemen and Department of State Security (DSS) officers were stationed at the entrance of the INEC premises to ensure that the protest did not turn violent.

The protesters, however, conducted themselves as they prevented hoodlums from hijacking it.

The protesters, under the aegis of Activists for Good Governance, were armed with series of placards and barricaded the road leading to INEC’s office, resulting in traffic gridlock.

Some of the placards read: “We Lagosians detest rigging, give us our PVCs,” “Lagosians reaffirm one man, one woman, one vote, give us our PVCs, period,” “Jega, be warned, don’t act FG’s script in Lagos,” “We beg ‘una’ to give us our cards,” “The totality of Agege Youth, women and men are demanding an extension for PVC collection,” “INEC, Agege demands more time for our PVC collection,” “Please, our 1.4 million PVC cards,” “We want free and fair election,” and “All Nigerians are equal.”

Spokesperson of the protesters, Comrade Declan Ihekaire, said Nigerians were afraid that INEC was planning to rig next year’s election, especially in states controlled by the All Progressives Congress (APC), which informed the hoarding of the PVCs from getting to the people.

“2015 is here already and any attempt to disenfranchise Nigerians will mark the beginning of action. What we see is that INEC is short of staff and you are already being nicknamed as trying to rig the election next year,” he told the INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Lagos State.

“INEC must ensure the PVCs get to the people and they should not attempt to rig the election. Those in power knows that there will be protest votes in 2015 and that is why they are trying to rig the election,” he said.

Minutes after Activists for Good Governance dispersed from the protest ground, another group, The Nucleus Group (TNG), came with hundreds of people, with placards to protest the denial of Lagosians from collecting their PVCs.

The TNG protesters carried placards, some of which read: “Lagosians cannot be intimidated, “INEC has disappointed Lagosians,” “Stop all the colluding, give us 1.4 million registered PVCs,”  “Enough of your show of shame INEC, We need our PVCs,” and “Give us our PVCs now.”

Spokesperson of TNG, Comrade Olusola Odubiro, called on INEC to extend the exercise by two weeks so that all Lagosians would get their PVCs.

He lamented that the performance of INEC in the ongoing exercise had been so poor as only one INEC officer is assigned to one polling units with lots of people queuing to get their PVCs.

He said TNG is suspecting foul play by the powers that be to rig the election in Lagos next year.

From the INEC office, the group marched to Lagos House, office of the State Governor, Babatunde Fashola.

Responding to the protesters, INEC’s REC, Lagos State, Adekunle Ogunmola, admitted that the body has experienced several hitches in the distribution of the PVCs in Lagos, but assured that by the time it completes the exercise, every Lagosian duly registered would get the voter’s card.

“Our intention is to ensure all registered voters in Lagos State get their PVCs before the 2015 elections. There have been hiccups; we are only distributing materials giving to us. On the 1.4 million voters removed from the list, we have reasons for that.

“In Mushin yesterday, we have distributed PVCs to 529 polling units. By the time we complete the 11 Local Governments, all will be captured. We are also doing continuous voters registration to capture everybody,” he said.
source: dailyindependent.com