Borno voters vow to take INEC to court over PVC

In order to get the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to release their Permanent Voter’s Cards, PVC, a group of angry voters in Borno vowed to sue the organization.

Less than three weeks before the elections, the group briefed the media in Maiduguri through its spokesperson, Ishiaku Yakubu, who claimed that all attempts to obtain their PVCs from the INEC office had been unsuccessful.

“The persons you see here this afternoon and a host of others have not been able to collect their Permanent Voters Cards having duly registered and found our names in the INEC official Electronic Voter Register,” Yakubu said in Maiduguri when discussing their dealings with INEC.

“Some may wonder why we waited until now to raise this concern, but 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 regrettably, today is the official deadline for collection of PVCs with no announcement regarding any extension, but INEC in Borno state is still directing people to go and come back,” he continued.

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“We have thousands of people (including myself) who have been going to the INEC offices for the collection of their PVCs, registered in the most challenging circumstances and inconveniences, but are still waiting to receive it,” he insisted.

When we queued up at their offices and ward levels to get PVCs, we were told things like, “Your PVC is not ready, come back in 3 days, come back in one week,” and similar things. INEC had previously told the media that all PVCs were ready for collection and bemoaned the fact that Nigerians were staying indoors.

“There appears to be no justification for holding up the PVCs, which gives us reason to suspect that there is a sinister plot to deny voting rights to thousands of people. All of us present and numerous others who registered, particularly between May and July last year, [including transfer of request for replacement of lost/damaged cards], have not received their PVCs. According to INEC, today is the last day, and people are urged to leave and return.

The group demanded that INEC publicly state that all PVCs that have been legally registered but are, in their opinion, unprinted, will be returned to their owners.

Yakubu insisted that “this should not end with just a promise; those cards should be printed and distributed as necessary.”

The group emphasized that those who “for no fault of their own have not been able to get their cards” “should not be affected” by the deadline.

The Resident Electoral Commissioner, REC, Mohammed Ibrahim, in response to the question, said: “Most of them without PVC may have registered more than once. They were not obtained because of this.

However, he disclosed that they had a window reserved to receive their cards, and that they could only do so by writing to his office to request a remedy.

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All transfers have been recorded, and if they visit our office to pick up their cards, they will do so promptly, according to Ibrahim.