Politics
Lagos, Ogun, Delta Ahead Of States With Unclaimed PVCs
Over five million Nigerians out of the 93m who registered to vote have yet to claim their Permanent Voter Cards barely four months to the 2023 elections.
Findings by The Tide source across 19 states indicate that Lagos, Ogun, Delta, Ekiti and Enugu States are leading the states with huge numbers of unclaimed PVCs despite the enlightenment campaigns carried out by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Understandably, the All Progressives Congress (APC), Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Labour Party (LP) and others are worried the forthcoming elections may be marred by voter apathy.
The INEC Chairman, Mahmood Yakubu had disclosed during a meeting with political parties in Abuja last week that over 2.7million new registrations between June 28, 2021 and July 31, 2022, were invalid.
During the 2019 general elections, the commission noted that out of the about 82.3m Nigerians in the voter register, only 28.6million voted which led to the re-election of President Muhammadu Buhari who polled 15 million votes to defeat his closest rival, Atiku Abubakar, who scored 11.2 million votes.
During the Lagos State governorship elections in 2019, Babajide Sanwo-Olu got 739,445 votes to defeat his closest rival, Jimi Agbaje of the PDP who had 206,141 votes.
Both candidates recorded less than one million votes despite the fact that the state had six million registered voters.
Findings on Monday showed that 963,884 PVCs have yet to be collected in Lagos, Ogun 661,643, Delta 300,000, Ekiti 239,858 and Enugu 160,000.
The commission’s Public Affairs Officer in Lagos, Mrs Adenike Oriowo put the number of uncollected cards at 963,884 as of October 21, 2022.
In a statement on Monday, she further disclosed that 37,832 new PVCs have not been collected out of the 60,370 received from the INEC’s national headquarters.
The statement said, “Overall total PVCs received from the national headquarters is 6,630,661. Overall total PVCs collected as of October 21, 2022, is 5,666,777, and overall PVCs uncollected as of October 21, 2022, is 963,884.”
According to the INEC Public Relations Officer in Ekiti State, Mrs Rolake Odebunmi, there are 988,923 registered voters in the state and 239,858 among them had collected their PVCs.
Odebunmi stated that further action would commence on November 12 with a nationwide display of voter registers.
In Ogun state, the Resident Electoral Commissioner, Niyi Ijalaye disclosed that 661,643 PVCs have yet to be collected.
The REC however said the total number of registered voters would be disclosed in the next two weeks after the cleanup of the voter register by INEC.
Also speaking with one of our source, the representative of the Public Affairs office of INEC in Gombe, Mohorret Bigun stated that no fewer than 95,959 cards were still in their custody.
In Ebonyi, it was stated that over 127,000 PVCs were yet to be collected while the number of unclaimed PVCs in Sokoto was put at 124,963. Some of the cards, it was gathered, have not been claimed since 2019.
At a recent stakeholders’ meeting, the Administrative Secretary of Sokoto INEC, Hauwa’u Aliyu said 148,446 voter cards were issued to the local government areas from 2019 to date but only 24,483 were collected.
Other states with a high number of uncollected PVCs include Adamawa 40,000; Kano 389,000; Niger 45,000; Bauchi 38,265 and Yobe 78,000.
But responding to the development, the Chief Press Secretary to the INEC chairman, Mr Rotimi Oyekanmi, argued that more Nigerians had collected their PVCs over the years than those who haven’t.
“For instance, the total number of registered voters as of 2019 was 84,004,084. Out of this, 72,775,502 or 86.63 per cent have collected their PVCs, leaving 11,228,582 uncollected PVCs as of 11th February 2019.
“However, Nigerians have been collecting their PVCs since then, although in trickles. Don’t forget that we conducted Continuous Voter Registration between 28th June 2021 and 31st July 2022. The PVCs of those that registered between June 2021 and January 2022 have been printed and the rate of collection of this set of PVCs has been quite impressive,’’ Oyekanmi submitted.
The press secretary also disclosed that the full report of the uncollected PVCs would be given by the INEC chairman in February just before the Presidential election.
While admonishing Nigerians to collect their cards so they can exercise their franchise, he said, ‘’Creating awareness and urging eligible voters to collect their PVCs is a collective, and not only INEC’s, responsibility. Other stakeholders, especially the media, also have a responsibility to encourage Nigerians to pick up their PVCs.
“Without a PVC, no voter will be allowed to vote. That is why it is very important for voters to collect their cards. The Commission will continue to raise awareness among registered voters who are yet to collect their PVCs to do so.’’
The Chief Spokesperson of the APC Presidential Campaign Council, Festus Keyamo, believed that the commission owed Nigerians some explanation for the poor response to PVCs collection.
In his submission, the spokesperson of the Atiku-Okowa Presidential Campaign Council, Kola Ologbondiyan stated the INEC chairman had a responsibility to deliver a free, fair and credible election in 2023.
Speaking in the same vein, the Chief Spokesperson of the Labour Party Presidential Campaign Council, Dr Yunusa Tanko, equally asked the INEC to go the extra mile to ensure many Nigerians are not disenfranchised.
Civil Society Coalition for Good Governance, Budget and Accountability has condemned the defection of the 27 members of the Rivers State House of Assembly from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Executive Secretary, Civil Society Coalition for Good Governance, Budget and Accountability, Amb. Emmanuel Nkweke, who said this in an interview with The Tide in Port Harcourt also described as illegal all legislations passed by the defected lawmakers.
Amb. Nkweke described the defection as “monkey politics’, queried the rational behind the action of the lawmakers few months after being sworn into office, adding that members of the civil society community were yet to be told reasons for the defection.
“Up till now, we are yet to be told why they defected just few months of being sworn into office. For me, that is monkey politics”, he said.
He urged the lawmakers to go back to their former party and beg Rivers people for forgiveness, adding that if that is done, they may be welcomed back.
Amb. Nkweke also cautioned the lawmakers not to allow themselves to be used to do the bidding of an individual, adding that the present administration in the state needs the support of all to move forward.
Meanwhile, the Executive Secretary of the group has commended Governor Siminalayi Fubara for giving civil societies the latitude to operate freely in the state.
He alleged that civil societies were caged in the last eight years, adding that there was no breathing space for civil societies in the last eight years in the state.
Amb. Nkweke described civil society as the engine room of democracy as it engages in sensitisation on the policies and programmes of government, regretting, however, that their inputs were never taken into considerations.
“Civil societies give signals, civil society creates the awareness and sensitize the people towards achieving a reliable democracy.
‘’i want to let you know, very frankly, that civil society space in Rivers State, for the past eight years, was suffocated. There was no breathing space, they didn’t breathe. Civil society was dead completely”, he said.
Amb. Nkweke said the situation also affected upcoming activists as some of them had to operate from hideouts.
By: John Bibor
The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) has called on President Bola Tinubu not to condone incompetent personalities in his government.
Addressing newsmen in Abuja, NANS President, Comrade Pedro Obi, expressed concerns about the competence of the Minister of State for Youth Development and the SSA to the President on Student Engagement.
Comrade Obi, after staging a peaceful protest at the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), reiterated that the NANS will not be intimidated and will continue to fight for the interests of Nigerian students.
He said, “The message is very simple, we have incompetent people who have been appointed to offices. It’s unfortunate and it’s not the President’s fault, of course he believes in Nigerian youths and has also given us the opportunity to showcase our capacity in various roles that he has given us.
“We have the SSA to the President on Student Engagement, who has shown incompetence. He cannot continue to hold that office and we are calling on Mr. President that he should be sacked with immediate effect.
“Also we have the Minister of State for Youth Development. We are also calling that immediately he should be sacked, because he has left what he ought to do and has dabbled into the affairs of NANS.
“These people have displayed incompetence and are destroying the youth community. There are so many competent youths that President Tinubu can pick from.
“NANS can never be intimidated. This is an organisation that we grew up to meet and we will continue to protect the dignity of this organisation.”
Receiving the NANS on behalf of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator George Akume, the Permanent Secretary, General Services Office in the SGF, Dr. Maurice Nnamdi Mbaeri, assured the NANS of relaying back their complaints to the SGF which he said will land on the listening ears of President Tinubu.
According to him, “I have listened to the complaints you raised. I assure you that your complaints will get to the listening ears of Mr. President.
“Let me assure you that I’m happy this was also re-echoed in the NANS President’s speech that President Tinubu has indebt love for the youths of Nigeria and also for the students of Nigeria. This has been demonstrated by polices that (has) been put in place for the youths.
“I want to assure you that the President has your concerns in his heart and he’s always ever ready to attend to your needs.
“With this, I am going to report back to my boss the SGF, who will take up the matter with the President. I urge you to continue to maintain peace and tranquillity. Don’t do anything that will make Mr. President feel bad about you.”
Former National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Dr. Iyiorchia Ayu, has withdrawn the court action he instituted against the party over his controversial removal from office barely two years into his four year term.
His action has removed legal impediments likely to militate against the emergence of his replacement from the North Central.
Several meetings have been held and being planned following this new development.
On Tuesday, the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) passed a vote of confidence on the Ag. National Chairnan, Amb. Umar Damagum, whom members said has discharged his functions creditably.
It was gathered that the North Central Caucus of the party had long before now started mobilizing to ensure that the zone produces Ayu’s replacement to complete his tenure which expires in 2025.
In a related development, Amb. Damagum has held series of meetings with various groups to perhaps shore up his chances of retaining his seat as acting chairman.
He led the members of the NWC on Wednesday to interact with the PDP National Ex-officio ahead of the NEC meeting.
Immediately after the meeting with them, he led the NWC members to another meeting with the State Party Chairmen from the 36 States, including FCT, Abuja.
The meetings were held at the NEC Hall, PDP National Secretariat at Wadata Plaza, Wuse Zone 5, in Abuja.
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