Card (PVC) could have been ignored but for the bandying of figures and
statistics by the Independent National Electoral Commission and the
subtle way of disenfranchising the voters and lopsided distribution
calls for proper scrutiny. Perhaps if the now shifted or is it
postponed election of February 14 was held last weekend the wind would
have blown open the inherent flaws and half-truths being sent by the
electoral umpires as if they were ready to take Nigerians through the
process.
The truth is that I am equally a victim of the lies and blatant
falsehood being spread by the INEC. In 2011, most people who took the
pain to travel to their areas to ensure that they registered to vote
and even voted thereafter, are yet to be issued with PVCs. Owerri and
Orlu in Imo state where interestingly the Governor of Imo state Rochas
Okorocha comes from have been crying ever since the INEC commenced
distribution of the cards.
Of particular interest is Owerri North Local Council Area of Imo
state, where questions are being asked and discussions everywhere
buttresses the fact that the people may end up being disenfranchised
for the 2015 general elections due to no fault of theirs. Indeed INEC
may not have produced the 2011 PVC and none has yet collected. But the
body has been creating the impression that it has printed claiming
that the people have refused to collect. How can one collect what is
not available? It is easily verifiable that the people of Owerri have
not been issued a single card except those who had their data captured
in November 2014 who have been issued the cards just last week..
Daily, the youths and elders of the area visit the collection centres
but end up in disappointments. On two occasions I made personal trips
only to reach the centre without any sign of any individual being
assigned to the area or being issued. A visit to INEC office equally
confirmed
same. So why take the people for granted when the apparent truth is
that the cards have not been printed?
It is so sad that the patience of Owerri indigenes who in the past
have shown great respect and apathy are now being taken for granted by
leaders of the two leading political parties who have not bothered to
intervene despite the fact that their members are vying for various
elective seats in the forthcoming State and National Assembly
elections. Besides, the attitude of INEC officials in Owerri who are
the representatives of Jega is not helping matters as they have failed
woefully to provide plausible reasons. More so, about 50 per cent of
the indigenes of Imo State who registered in November 2014 have
collected theirs while the 2011 set of people have not been issued any
card. The INEC officials confirmed in Owerri that the 2014 set of
people in Imo and some core south East state have not been issued. So
how and where is the figure that INEC is reeling out coming from?
It is painful that even Owerri and some parts of the state regarded
as PDP strongholds, that apathy therein lies in the fact that the
political awareness and interest being shown by the people is not
being translated into the issuance of PVCs and the ruling People
Democratic Party has been battling effortlessly to explain the
inefficiency of a system like INECs distribution of PVCs. If we must
say it the way it is, it is not only PDP that has been crying foul
over the lopsided arrangement and lack of leadership as shown by
Professor Jega over the distribution and the rate of the cards
collection in several areas not limited to Owerri alone
Would it be fair for Owerri North and other areas of Imo state to be
so blatantly disenfranchised ...Permit me to say that this is gross
insensitivity and violation of their human rights by the officials of
INEC.
It makes me sad to think that our patriotism is being stifled by the
trumpeters of ''INEC is prepared'' who have never bothered to tell
Nigerians the truth and bother us less with the huge budget for media
since 2011 when we registered. Even the International Passports,
Drivers Licence, ATM and National Identity Cards which are all
security documents, do they take four years to be produced?
To be modest, I felt that one year before now, the PVCs should have
been produced distributed and collected so that even if there are
issues of apparent mistakes and relocation of registered voters they
could have been sorted out before this fire brigade approach.
However I have been watching the spokesperson of INEC and former
colleague in THISDAY Mr Kayode Idowu and the INEC officials battle
endlessly to defend the abnormally and inefficiency that characterised
the distribution. But the truth remains that INEC has yet printed the
cards and nowhere near getting it issued before now.
....
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