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By Cosmas Omegoh (Lagos), Emmanuel Adeyemi (Lokoja), Obinna Odogwu (Awka), Layi Olarenwaju (Ilorin), Tony John (PH), Paul Osuyi (Asaba), Okey Sampson (Umuahia), Tony Osauzo and Ighomuaye Lucky (Benin)
There are strong indications that many prospective voters might not participate in the 2023 general elections.
The reason being simply that they are yet to pick up their voter’s cards.
This revelation is coming on the heels of the recent surge and enthusiasm exhibited when massive crowd streamed to participate in the just concluded Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC’s) Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise. Thus, everything about that rise in number might end just like it never happened.
There have been various social media accounts lately of voter’s cards allegedly being dumped in secret locations across the country.
But investigations at various INEC offices across the country indicate that millions of voter’s cards are lying there uncollected. Their owners have not made efforts at collecting them even when INEC officials have been appealing to the owners to come over and pick them up.
Against this background, some citizens have been appealing to INEC to go the extra mile towards sensitising the people to get their cards as registration alone will not guarantee them the opportunity of participating in the 2023 general elections.
Lagos: We ‘re begging people to come pick their PVCs
In Lagos State, INEC says it is currently giving out PVCs to individuals who registered between June and December 2021 last year, while assuring that those who registered recently would soon have their own cards ready.
Its electoral umpire regretted that thousands of Lagosians are not coming forward to pick their cards despite completing their registration, adding that many people have had to be begged to come and pick up the item.
According to a senior official of the agency, who did not want to be mentioned, “we have a whole lot of cards uncollected.
“We have over one million of such cards belonging to those who registered between 2019, and December 2021, uncollected.
“Between last year and July this year, only a paltry 174,000 out of that number cards have been collected.
“We take it that out of that one million cards, some of their owners might have died; some probably got transferred out of Lagos, while some might be students who left for school. That is why we don’t expect that those one million plus cards would be collected given the scenarios I mentioned.”
The source added: “Part of the batch of cards we have is for those who registered between June and December last year. We have processed their data and produced their cards. They are ready for collection.
“Those who did their transfers from other states to Lagos State also have their cards ready.
“But the cards we are still processing are for those who registered between January and July 31 this year. Currently, we are working on them; we have gone back to the system to dictate multiple registrants. After that, the cards will be produced.”
The source explained that the reason some people don’t have their cards is because of multiple registration.
“Before the first batch of cards arrived during the CVR exercise, it showed that Lagos had the lowest number of multiple registration – because during the exercise, we asked questions bordering on whether the registrants had registered before because some people were doing double registration. The reason was that they did not go back to check if their cards were out or not.
“We were emphasising on CVR because we knew that it would soon come to an end. But at the same time, we were also emphasising on collection.”
On the enlightenment programme so fare mounted to ensure collections, the source said: “We have been going out doing public education at market places, churches and mosques. We are going to take it a step further; the situation will definitely improve going forward.
“We are going to make sure that people get their cards. This is an assurance because there is no point registering, and not picking their cards.”
The source charged the residents to report situations where anyone tries to deny them of their cards, in the pretense that they are not ready when in actual sense they are ready.
“If they are sure of what they are saying, they should escalate the matter. If possible make noise.
“The reason anyone wants to withhold their card is what we will be asking.”
Our source gave out INEC Lagos office contacts as 08179438145 and 09123659540, Twitter @Lagos, Instagram: ineclagos and Facebook: ineclagosHQ in case there is any infractions.
“We are practically begging people to come and pick up their cards.
“At one of our local government offices, the electoral officer mandated one of our staff to be calling the card owners. One fellow said: ‘please bring mine to my house.’ How many people will we offer such service to?”
The source also assured those who recently changed their residents to Lagos or somewhere within the state that they would get their cards. “Let them go to the centre where the switch was made or the area’s local government area headquarters.”
Kogi: We don’t have accurate figure of registrants yet –INEC
INEC in Kogi State says for now, it cannot give accurate number of voters registered in the state and the total number of uncollected PVCs, claiming that the commission’s website is currently syncronising all its data.
It was gathered that out of over 10 million voters who recently participated in the CVR exercise, only about three million registration is valid on INEC website, while about seven million are still syncronising.
Speaking with our correspondent in Lokoja, INEC state Public Relations Officer, Mr Adams Dan Shuaibu, admitted that the Commission was experiencing difficulties arising from double registrations.
Speaking on the problem of PVCs distribution, the Executive Director, Conscience for Human Right and Conflict Resolution, Comrade Idris Miliki said that INEC had done its bit by extending the voters’ registration twice, declaring that the call for extension would be a drawback to the Commission just as that has time and resource implications.
Miliki who gave INEC a pass mark in the distribution of PVCs in the state, blamed members of the public who exhibit lackadaisical attitude in collecting their PVCs, saying that the process is easy enough as the items can be collected at INEC local government offices.
He said that it was only the registration for new PVCs that had stopped, but collection continues till one week before the general elections, urging all to obtain their PVCs if they had not done so.
Anambra: Number of uncollected PVCs unknown
In Anambra State, the total number of uncollected PVCs could not be immediately ascertained. This was because the commission said that it could not release such information without the approval of the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC).
At the moment, the commission does not have a new REC after the exit of Dr Nkwachukwu Orji who held that position served out his tenure recently.
“I cannot give you any information without the authorisation of the REC or the administrative secretary,” a member of staff of the commission told our reporter.
Kwara: Over 2 million PVCs unclaimed
Kwara State INEC REC, Mallam Garba Attahiru Madami, said that there were over 2, 011,000 unclaimed PVCs with his organisation.
Madami revealed this while speaking with Sunday Sun in his office.
To buttress this assertion, Mallam Bolakale Mohammed, a former councillor and community leader in Oke Ogun ward of Ilorin South Local Government Area said: “In the past, prospective voters especially in Ilorin were frustrated by officials of INEC from picking their PVCs; they did not show up at the centre where they registered.
“When they eventually did, no cards were distributed”.
To support the claim, a House of Assembly aspirant on the platform of Social Democratic Party (SDP), Mr Segun Awolowo, disclosed that “before the current INEC REC assumed duty, PVC distribution had flopped.”
He added that “public out-cry and frustration trailed the exercise in many council areas, wards and polling units in the state.”
Mallam Madami, said that one of the challenges he met on assumption of duty was unclaimed PVCs.
According to him, “we discovered there were over 2, 011,000 unclaimed PVCs in Kwara; and for this reason, I had to devise ways to make collection less cumbersome.
“So, I directed that all the names and VIN on the unclaimed PVCs be typed out and pasted on our notice board at the headquarters and the council areas so that those would come and check before we schedule them on when to collect them.
“The lists, ward by ward and polling units by polling units, were sent to the electoral officers in the local government areas for easy identification, so as to reduce the stress in collections of the PVCs.
“Also at the local government level, I asked them to create three separate desks for those collecting old PVCs, those transferring to new polling units, and those collecting theirs after fresh registration. Each one of them had to join one of the three queues.”
The REC noted that “Ilorin West alone has over 42,000 unclaimed PVCs; we typed out the entire names. After the decision, over 800 were collected last week up from the 80 or 90 per week.”
According to him, “with the current method adopted, getting the actual number of unclaimed PVCs in local government might be difficult because the figure is no longer stable; each day I get reports from the field of increased collection. So, if I give out any figure now, it might not be the actual.”
Rivers: 44, 572 PVCs unclaimed
Rivers State INEC’s Supervising National Commissioner, Mrs May Agbamuche-Mbu, disclosed that their registration officers and other staff at the LGA offices worked hard throughout the registration exercise.
It was learnt that from INEC records 278, 417 new voters were registered in the state as well as 127, 670 voters transferred, and 43, 080 PVC replacements as of July 24, 2022.
According to the Commission, 54, 945 new PVCs have been received, but only 10, 373 have so far been collected, leaving an outstanding balance of 44, 572.
For transfers and replacements, of 16, 949 received, only 1, 790 cards have so far been collected. From the old PVCs, the commission has 302,297 cards on the record; only 33, 575 collected.
During her media briefing on July 25, 2022, she put on record that the collection of the PVCs in the state has been abysmally low.
As the country heads for the 2023 general elections, Mrs Agbamuche-Mbu tasked Rivers people to collect their PVCs in good time rather than wait until the last minute.
According to her, the commission was working hard in its preparations for the 2023 general elections and strongly desires that no citizen will be disenfranchised.
She recalled that to ensure that as many people in the state as possible were registered, the Commission had to extend the registration time from 9:00a.m to 5:00p.m daily, including Saturdays and Sundays.
Mrs Agbamuche-Mbu expressed optimism that with the record of registrants across the 24 local government areas, the people of Rivers State were looking forward to exercising their franchise during the forthcoming elections.
Delta: 244,715 cards unclaimed
INEC said that a total of 2,831,206 people were registered during the 2019 voter registration cycle in Delta State. But out of this number, 2,470,924 voters have collected their PVCs in readiness to vote.
The body said that this left a deficit of uncollected PVCs figure at 244,715.
INEC gave a breakdown of the uncollected PVCs across the 25 local governments as follows: Aniocha North (4,199), Aniocha South (9,428), Bomadi (6,258), Burutu (3,322), Ethiope East (14,408), Ethiope West (9,282), Ika North-East (3,683), Ika South (8,216), Isoko North (9,668), Isoko South (2,681), Ndokwa East (4,204), Ndokwa West (7,034), Okpe (10,968), Oshimili North (8,845), Oshimili South (21,289), Patani (2.394), Sapele (18,442), Udu (23,305), Ughelli North (16,901), Ughelli South (6,880), Ukwuani (6,001), Uvwie (24,835), Warri North (3,464), Warri South (21,649) and Warri South-West (1,229).
A youth leader, Mr Nnamdi Ofonye, told Sunday Sun in Asaba that he was quite sure that the number of uncollected PVCs in the current election cycle would not be as high what it was in 2015 and 2019.
Ofonye who is the president of Anioma Youth Forum Worldwide (AYF-W), said that prior to the present cycle, people never had confidence in the electoral process, noting that with the obvious improvement in the process, people would troop out to collect their PVCs.
He said that the surge of enthusiastic registrants during the current registration cycle, was a testimony to the fact that people now believe in the electoral process.
Ofonye nevertheless, advised INEC to engage in “serious sensitisation process.”
“They should engage the media, and then take it down to the grassroots by going into town hall meetings and telling the people why they should pick up their PVCs.
“People should be reminded that those of them who registered in 2019, their PVCs have been lying fallow in the offices; they should come and pick it up.”
On his part, the Labour Party chairman in Delta State, Tony Ezeagwu advised INEC to do enough publicity to enable people to go back and collect their PVCs.
Ezeagwu said it would be another frustrating exercise to have the PVCs dumped, and asked the people to queue up for collection.
Also, the state Zenith Labour Party chairman, Emeka Nkwoala urged INEC to decentralise the collection system, wondering why people would struggle to register, and also struggle to get their cards at the same time.
Abia: Numerous PVCs unclaimed
Even when a surge was witnessed during the last phase of the CVR exercise in Abia State, INEC says many people who registered previously are yet to collect their PVCs.
However, the actual number of PVCs yet to be collected cannot be ascertained.
Speaking with Sunday Sun, Adetunji Bamidele, public relations officer of the Commission in the state confirmed that many PVCs are yet to be collected.
Bamidele could not, however, say the number of PVCs that were yet to be collected, adding that he would not like to hazard a guess as the collection exercise remained in progress.
“Many PVCs emanating from the last registration exercise and previous ones are yet to be collected.
“The number is great; but I don’t want to start hazarding a guess, since the process of collection is still ongoing.
“As I speak with you, many people are in the office trying to collect their PVCs. I may give you a definite figure now, but before the end of the day, that number might go down as people would have collected theirs; so we might end up giving out an inaccurate figure.”
Bamidele appealed to all those who have not collected their PVCs to do so without further delay.
He said it was not worth the while for people to spend time registering and yet not collect their PVCs.
While Bamidele advised all those who registered before February 2022, to go to INEC headquarters or their offices in the 17 local government areas of the state to collect their PVCs, he equally urged those who registered recently and those who transferred their locations or changed their names, to wait till October, when their PVCs would be ready.
Meanwhile, some people have expressed concern over the mode of distribution of PVCs by the electoral umpire, and the lackadaisical attitude exhibited by some people in collecting their PVCs.
Ndubuisi Okorie, a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Abia State expressed disgust over the process of collection of the PVCs adopted by INEC.
Okorie said that a situation where people, particularly those in the rural area, had to travel a long distance to the local government headquarters to INEC offices, and had to be asked to come back to collect their PVCs on a later date was discouraging.
He said that the individual might not be disposed to go back to collect the item.
“It is discouraging to ask someone to come back another time to collect his or her PVC after he is registered or his data is captured.
“Many people particularly those living in rural areas may find this arrangement cumbersome; the majority of them may not come back to collect their PVCs.”
Another politician, Elvis Chukwu, does not fancy the idea of making people to queue daily for hours at the state INEC headquarters or their local government offices to collect their PVCs.
“It is not the best; people queuing for several hours daily at INEC offices for the purpose of collecting their PVCs does not inspire.”
Chukwu advised INEC to evolve a more effective way for people to collect their PVCs with ease.
Edo: Residents suggest ways to make PVCs collection seamless
Meanwhile, residents of Edo State among them, Dr Bright Oniovokukor, have observed that the citizens have been subjected to untold hardship that eventually discouraged them from picking their PVCs.
Dr Oniovokukor said that this will in turn lead to disenfranchisement, noting that “it’s also evident that many PVCs are lying fallow in the INEC at the various local government offices.
“Away from that, one of the solutions is to alert the registered voters that their PVCs are ready at the exact point of collection.
Oniovokukor suggested that during registration, INEC should take the phone numbers of prospective voters and send them SMS, directing them to the point of collection of their PVCs when they are ready.
“This would address the situation where people are being frustrated because they don’t know where to pick up their PVCs.”
He suggested that “INEC staff need to be retrained on how to attend to citizens who come to collect their PVCs.
“INEC also from time to time can carry out ward-to-ward distribution for these cards to reach the people.”
He further suggested that “the citizens need to be sensitised on the need to make extra effort to get their PVCs, and asked INEC to step up it game of bringing the PVCs closer to the people so as to make the process of collection seamless.
“INEC should not wait for elections to be close before emphasising on CVR.”
On his part, Osazee Edigin, the immediate past public relations officer of Edo Civil Society Organisations (EDOCSO), said that the collection of voters’ cards is one area of electoral processes fraught with irregularities that many are yet to recognise.
He contended that a lot of people had been disenfranchised because they couldn’t find their voter’s card.
Edigin alleged that politicians had also identified such area elections could be rigged mostly when they realise that their opponents have a stronghold in those areas by colluding with corrupt INEC personnel.
He further accused INEC of somewhat making the collection of voter’s cards difficult by centralising the collection centres, noting that at times, one is forced to spend a whole day to collect the item thereby causing the citizens inertia.
Edigin suggested that INEC should use the same network in registration to also distribute the cards.
Efforts to obtain the number of uncollected PVCs in Edo State was unsuccessful as INEC Public Relations Officer in the state, Timidi Wariowei, who initially promised to avail Sunday Sun the number failed to do so until this report was filed.
