INEC frustrating southerners from getting their PVCs, group alleges

A civil rights group, International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law, Intersociety accused the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of frustrating southerners from getting their PVCs through unavailability of PVCs.

The group in a statement jointly signed by the group’s Board Chair and Head, Democracy and Good Governance, Emeka Umeagbalasi and Chinwe Umeche, respectively and made available to National Daily,  also accused staff of INEC of extortion.

It also alleged that INEC is hell-bent on flooding the 2023 Presidential Poll with magic hinterland “votes” from 12 major poll-rigging Northern States.

The group alleged that the number of PVCs distributed per State since Dec 12 2022, out of 29.5m uncollected PVCs remains unknown and undisclosed.

The statement partly read: “Also, out of the so-called “93.5m registered voters for 2023 general elections only 44m genuine PVC holders exist, out of which 10m have compromised their PVCs and VINs and sold their consciences to the devil.

READ ALSO: INEC denies PDP’s allegation on compromise in distribution of PVCs in Lagos

“INEC has also been found to be unwilling and unable to prioritize the PVC distribution, including the Commission’s monumental failure to give daily and weekly national updates, especially the State by State breakdown of the total number of PVCs distributed so far and the number of pre-2019 and 2022 PVCs remaining; in addition to gender and ethnic and religious components of the newly distributed PVC recipients.

“INEC has further failed woefully to disclose how many of its claimed “newly printed 9.5m PVCs for newly registered 9.5m voters, 4m newly printed PVCs for transferred voters” and “pre- 2019 20m uncollected PVCs for those registered between 2011 and 2018” have been given or issued to their rightful owners.

“‘It was also found that INEC woefully failed in its constitutional and statutory duties by not properly disclosing or publishing the names and locations of the country’s 8,809 electoral wards, which the Commission claimed to have designated as “PVC collection centres”.

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“Found, too, are general complaints of PVC collectors being frustrated or forced to back out of the collection exercise following sundry hitches deliberately and discriminatorily created by the Commission, including unavailability of PVCs/INEC staffers and lateness of the concerned INEC staffers to work.

“The above disclosures are in addition to “magic hinterland presidential votes” strongly feared to have already been pencilled down by INEC from the North-West States of Kano, Katsina, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kebbi, Sokoto and Zamfara; the North-East States of Bauchi, Yobe, Borno and Adamawa; and the North-Central State of Niger.

“Disenfranchisement of Nigerian citizens of full blood and those of legitimate naturalization by INEC and their exclusion from voting and participating in national or sub-national and local council polls especially the coming Presidential Poll of Feb 25, 2023, is ‘lubricant’ inflaming Nigeria or any part thereof and pushing the country into complex uncertainties.