INEC, PVC And The Elections

Attahiru Jega, INEC Chairman, has to work extremely hard for many Nigerians to buy into his present burst of optimism

The challenge for Professor Attahiru Jega, chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC), is formidable. But so far, his rhetoric has more than matched what is on ground. “There are challenges associated with the production and distribution of the PVCs, but these challenges are not sufficient to reach the conclusion that INEC is not prepared to conduct the 2015 general elections,” declared Jega. “We feel confident that before February 14, when the first in the series of elections will take place, every person who has registered will have his card produced and made available for collection.”

Unfortunately, many Nigerians may not likely embrace Jega’s optimism on an issue that has become a potential source of serious conflict. Precisely 13 days to the presidential elections on February 14, the electoral body has distributed fewer than 45 million permanent voter cards (PVCs) to eligible voters expected to exercise their franchise in the general elections out of the 68 million registered voters. Equally serious is that substantial numbers of the outstanding PVCs are still being printed outside the country less than two weeks to the election. The questions arising from that are: When will they be in Nigeria? When will they be distributed across the nation? And when will they be collected by the voters?

The challenge is underlined by the difficulties being encountered by voters in their bid to collect the PVCs already distributed. Across the nation, the cards collection centres are either inadequate or there are no officials to man them, leading to inexcusable delays and stress. Many could not find their names in the register and for some of those who did, their cards are not available. Indeed, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has accused the electoral body of arbitrariness and deliberately disenfranchising many of its members and supporters in Lagos State by refusing to release their PVCs to them.

While we can dismiss such allegations as mere political grandstanding, INEC’s seeming arrogance in directing the voters to their local government area could not be more annoying, considering a place like Lagos where that exercise could take an entire day without any assurance that the card would be available. Indeed, some frustrated voters have vowed not to return to the collection centres after many futile attempts. “INEC had four years to prepare a seamless exercise for the production and distribution of PVCs”, said Ayo Opadokun, convener of CODER. “The revelation from the Sultan of Sokoto that he has not been able to collect his own voter’s card is a significant illustration of the level of agony that voters are going through.”

INEC’s unpreparedness is leading to concern in various quarters that citizens may be disenfranchised and the election postponed. The argument is premised on the fact that the electoral body has not been able to deliver PVCs to all who should have it.
It is heart-warming that the electoral body says it has entered into a mutual agreement with the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) for a seamless transportation of personnel and election materials to address issues of logistics, which was the bane of previous elections. In an election already predated by violence, there must also be adequate security. “I want to assure all that as we promised Nigerians we are working assiduously to ensure that we prepare adequately and that we conduct elections that are free, fair, credible and peaceful in 2015,” said Jega last week.

No doubt, the assignment is a weighty one. But Jega and his team must know that the cost of failure will just be too enormous to contemplate. That is why INEC must quickly put its house in order.