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From Romanus Ugwu, Abuja
Less than 13 days to the January 22 deadline date issued by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to end the issuance of Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs) to the applicants for next month’s general election, millions of the Nigerian electorate are still stranded and unable to collect their cards.
From many states in the South West, South East, South-South and some North Central geopolitical zones, it has been a situation of an allegory of being easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for the desperate prospective electorate to collect their PVCs.
And even despite the devolution of the distribution of the cards to various Registration Areas/Wards closer to the people, the difficulties encountered in collecting PVCs have persisted to the point of Nigerians spending long hours patiently in queues at various collection centres across the country.
Assurances have been given, vigorous campaigns have been carried out, jingles and several social media platforms have been deployed effectively by relevant stakeholders to mobilise and ensure smooth collection and distribution of the cards, but the difficulties have not reduced much.
It has been so bad that many Nigerians in various states that trooped to their wards and Local Government Areas (LGAs) without hope of collecting their PVCs, have become apprehensive that they may not after all be able to vote during next month’s polls if the situation did not improve.
From one state to the other, the turnout by the electorate has been massive, impressive and encouraging but many of them have however left the registration areas/ward centres in disappointment after torturous and tedious waits without getting their cards.
Perhaps, in compliance to the warning by the commission for the applicants not to wait till the last date before collecting their cards, many intending voters had defied all challenges to pick theirs.
Last month December, Head of Voter Education, Publicity, Gender and Civil societies Liaison Department, FCT INEC, Agnes Akpe, had, while issuing the warning ahead, advised the applicants against battling last-minute syndrome in picking their cards.
“After the experience of registration, I will not advise anybody to wait. Now is the time to get PVC. The earlier the better,” Akpe appealed, adding: “the response is actually very impressive. I think it is a testament to the fact that the people now trust INEC. They believe in the credibility of INEC. INEC has said that votes will count and because the votes will count, they will come out to get their PVCs and ensure that their votes count.
“That is why they are turning out. Otherwise, before now, it is always general apathy, nobody is interested, but imagine them staying in the sun, coming out early. There is something they want and they are determined to get it,” she argued.
But the turnout has continued to end in lamentation and frustration. Blames have been traded over the glitches, ranging from extortions of the applicants by the commission’s staff or their agents to the unavailability and lukewarm attitude of the staff to attend to the surging crowd of prospective voters desperate for their cards.
Another blame has been the disinterest of the electorate to visit the distribution centres for their cards despite all appeals from relevant stakeholders.
In Lagos for instance, it was a mixed bag. The turnout of registrants across the state, according to reports, ranged from low, to moderate and high. The distribution has been smooth in some wards where the turnout has also been low but herculean in other centres with a high turnout of applicants.
On the whole, the absence of INEC officials most times to give relevant information on what is required or how to go about it, allegations of ethnic segregation and accusations of extortions have continued to dominate the ongoing distribution exercise in the state.
While people waited under the scorching sun in some areas, those who could afford to part with certain amount of money to available agents facilitating the process collected theirs while those that could not pay were left to gnash their teeth waiting endlessly under hostile weather conditions before getting theirs.
To circumvent these hostilities confronting the collection of cards, some applicants allegedly paid as high as N3000 or even more and regardless of whether some of them came with their spouses, the extortion is based on individual bargains.
The worrisome aspect of the Lagos situation has been the allegations of favouritism for indigenes and ethnic discrimination at the expense of the non-indigenes that are usually left to wait under the scourching sun before getting their cards.
Curiously, despite the efforts and interventions of the commission’s national and state leadership, over 1.5 million PVCs have not yet been collected according to INEC’s recent statistics.
It was, however, a different stroke for different folks in other states in the South West zone. In Ondo, according to reports, the turnout at various wards across the 18 local councils has been so impressive that INEC officials usually have a tough and hectic time attending to the prospective voters.
While some of the registrants spent long hours before collecting their cards due to the untidy process of the officials failing to make adequate provisions for the smooth conduct of the exercise, it was however a stroll into the park for some other states in the geopolitical zone.
The situation in Ogun and Ekiti states, according to reports, was the same. Low turnout in many wards has been the case. Only a few people that came out to collect their PVCs in those states got theirs without going through encumbrances.
In some States in the South-south like Edo, Rivers, Cross-River and Bayelsa, it was an admixture of logistic hitches and smooth process for the electorate that desirously jostled for their cards.
In Edo, for instance, reports have it that the distribution of PVCs has been smooth in most wards with relatively moderate applicants turning out to the centres to get their cards without much hassle.
It was perhaps the opposite in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, where mad rushes have been the case. Applicants trooped to their ward collection centres to pick up their cards in a calm atmosphere, resulting in INEC staff on duty distributing the available PVCs under the watchful protection of Nigerian police personnel.
The situation was however different in Cross River, as the slow process in the distribution affected the large turnout of the applicants. INEC officials had a hectic time controlling the crowd that stormed the centres.
There has been a disappointingly tense atmosphere in Bayelsa. Most registered voters that besieged the collection centres at the various wards in the predominantly riverine areas in the state, according to reports experienced disappointments as the officials to attend to them were either conspicuously absent or inadequate, resulting in delays experienced in many parts of the state.
The situation is not entirely different in some states in the North-Central zone, as applicants in their numbers at the centres go through difficult times collecting their cards.
Interestingly, however, the distribution and collection of the PVCs have relatively continued to go smoothly with little or no challenges in most states in the North West and North East geopolitical zones.
It was a situation that precipitated the insinuations that either there is a resolve to collectively mop up the cards to centrally structure an organised clinical voting process or that the commission smoothened the process in favour of the geopolitical zones.
But, rattled by the difficulties encountered in the collection of the PVCs, many of the applicants have advised the commission to devise means of informing prospective voters when their cards are ready rather than them going blindly to the centres to waste time and energy when their cards are not ready.
“Since they have the contact numbers of the applicants, the commission should send text messages to inform them about the availability of their cards instead of them going to the centres to spend long hours only to find out that their cards are not ready,” an aggrieved applicant advised.
Decrying the hitches over PVCs collection, a coalition of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) demanded for an extension of the deadline date for the distribution of the uncollected cards.
The coalition, comprising Yiaga Africa, Women Advocates and Research Development Centre (WARDC), Connecthub, Enough is Enough Nigeria, Fixpolitics, Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID), Kimpact Development Initiative (KDI) and the Electoral College Nigeria had frowned at the endless complaints by the applicants.
In a joint statement issued recently, they lamented that; “Nigerians again have had to waste money and time to visit INEC’s offices around the country, only to be told that their cards are not ready and they should come back.
“Some places, in addition, where cards are available, registered voters express frustration with the disorderliness and cumbersome nature of the PVC collection process.”
“In other locations, there seems to be extortion as was recorded and shared on Twitter by @samking10011 from the INEC office in Uvwie LGA, Delta State,” the statement read.
“We urge INEC to ensure that Citizens’ Contact Centre works optimally; to create a dedicated desk for CSOs, media and citizens to escalate the issues observed for quick resolution, and to create a mechanism to report INEC officials engaged in extortion or deliberately sharing misleading information to disenfranchise. We also call for an extension of the deadline for PVCs collection,” they appealed.
However, clearing many grey areas in a separate reaction to the inquiries from Daily Sun, National Commissioner and Chairman Information and Voter Education Committee, Festus Okoye and the Chief Press Secretary to the INEC Chairman, Rotimi Oyekanmi, dismissed some of the allegations raised.
According to the CPS; “From the reports that we are getting, Nigerians are collecting their PVCs with little or no delays in many parts of the country. However, we are also aware that there are challenges in some areas and the commission is taking steps to ease the problems in those identified areas to reduce delays and fast-track the PVC collection process.”
He also dismissed the allegations of extortions at some centres, urging anybody with proof and relevant information to report to the commission for appropriate disciplinary measures against any member of its staff found culpable.
“Collection of PVCs is absolutely free and our staff will not demand gratification in order to do their jobs. Our staff have been working round the clock, including Saturdays and Sundays, to make the cards available to their rightful owners. They deserve some commendation.
“However, citizens who encounter any INEC staff anywhere demanding for money should come forward with the details of such staff and the location of the place. We will swiftly investigate it,” he assured.
On the allegations of the commission favouring an ethnic nationality in the distribution, Oyekanmi fumed: “anyone who claims or says that the commission is making the collection of PVCs easier in most parts of a section of the country is an evil person, who is simply out to put the lives of our staff in danger.
