The PUNCH reports that INEC stopped PVC distribution and collection on Sunday, February 5, 2023 as Nigeria heads towards the general election scheduled for February 25 and the March 11 gubernatorial elections.
But the CSOs — CivicHive, ConnectHub, Enough is Enough Nigeria, #FixPolitics, Community Life Project and Women Advocates and Research Development Centre — citing Section 16(1) of the Electoral Act, says INEC “owes ALL duly registered citizens who are in INEC’s Voters Register their PVCs so that they can vote.”
They added that eligible voters in Lagos are being denied the right to vote due to delays caused by INEC and its officials.
The group are, therefore, demanding that INEC extend PVC collection in Lagos to Sunday, February 12, 2023 as voters should not be penalised for INEC’s administrative lapses, which included late arrival of PVCs, absence of Standard Operating Procedures for PVC collection, collection by proxy, among others.
The groups said, “A large number of eligible voters whose names are in the Voters’ Register turned up at INEC’s offices to collect their PVCs with their registration slips, only to be sent away empty-handed by INEC officials on the grounds that their PVCs were “Not Found” or they were “Omitted”. Some of those affected made multiple unsuccessful trips on different dates to INEC’s offices. INEC assured some of these voters that their cases would be escalated and they would be contacted to pick up their PVCs. The reality is that registered voters showed up to collect their PVCs and INEC failed to honour its mandate.
“We demand that INEC extend PVC Collection in Lagos to Sunday, February 12, 2023 as voters should not be penalised for INEC’s administrative lapses. On Monday, February 6th, EiE sent 845 text messages to Lagosians who had submitted complaints on its RSVP Portal and as of the morning of Wednesday, February 8th, in barely 48 hours, 163 people had responded that they are in INEC’s Voters’ Register, but they were denied their PVCs. There is precedent for this extension as in 2014, while PVC Collection was stopped across the country, it was extended in Lagos because INEC Lagos took responsibility for its shortcomings. In the words of Mr Adekunle Ogunmola, the Lagos REC at the time, “This delay was not caused by the people, it was caused by INEC.”
