Voters vow to drag INEC to court if they don’t get their PVC’s before the general election

Voters vow to drag INEC to court if they don’t get their PVC’s before the general election

By: Bodunrin Kayode

A group of aggrieved voters in Borno have vowed to drag the independent national Electoral Commission (INEC) to court to force the organization to release their permanent voters card ( PVC).

The group which briefed the media in maiduguri through their spokesperson ishiaku Yakubu said that all attempts to get their PVC’s from the INEC office less than three weeks to the elections has been fruitless.

Speaking about their ordeals with the elections umpire in maiduguri ishiaku said that ” the persons you see here this afternoon and a host of many others who have not been able to collect their Permanent Voters’ Cards having duly registered and found our names in the INEC official Electronic Voter Register are yet to receive our cards.

” Some may wonder why we waited till now to raise this concern, we appreciate the obvious effort of INEC and have given them all the trust in hope that we would get our PVCs before the deadline but sadly, today is the official deadline for collection of PVCs with no announcement regarding any extension but INEC in Borno state is still telling people to go and come back.”

He maintained that” we have people in their thousands (including myself) who have been going to the INEC offices for collection of their PVCs registered under the most difficult situations and inconvenience but are yet to get it.

“INEC has previously announced to the media that all PVCs are ready for collection and lament how Nigerians are not coming out, meanwhile we queue up at their offices and ward levels to get PVCs only to be told your PVC is not ready, come back in 3 days, come back in one week and stories like that.

“We have reasons to believe that there is a sinister plan to disenfranchise thousands of people as there appears to be no reason for holding up the PVCs. All of us here and many others who registered, transfer of request for replacement of lost/damaged cards particularly last year (2022) between May and July have not been given their PVCs. Today is the final deadline according to INEC and people are being asked to go and come back.”

He said that the Head of the Voter Education in Borno, didn’t sound any different from what they have been told since 12th December, 2022 adding that everyone has gotten their PVCs except those who did double registration but this is far from reality.

Ishaku noted that they have people who did updates, transfer of polling unit or request for lost card who are yet to collect their PVCs and these run into thousands who are willing and have been going to INEC offices and their cards cannot be found.

Their Demands

“We demand first and foremost that INEC make a public declaration that they will provide all PVCs duly registered which they claim has not been printed. This should not end at just a promise those cards should be printed and distributed as appropriate.

” Secondly, that the deadline should not affect those who for no fault of theirs have not been able to get their cards.
That INEC should caution its staff who have been telling people they won’t get their cards till after elections (we have evidence of such utterance).

Responding to the challenge, the Resident Electoral Commissioner REC Mohammed Ibrahim said that “most of them without PVC’s may have registered more than once. That is why they did not get them.

He however revealed that there was a window reserved for them to get their cards which can happen only when they write to his office for redress.

” All transfers have been documented and they will receive their cards if they come to our office to receive their cards” said Mohammed Ibrahim.

Voters vow to drag INEC to court if they don’t get their PVC’s before the general election