Barely a month to the February 14 general elections, many of the more than 70 million Nigerians captured as eligible voters are still grappling with a major hurdle – to get their Permanent Voter Cards (PVC) – without which they cannot vote. Managing Editor, Northern Operation, YUSUF ALLI, x-rays the politics of the PVC, challenges facing INEC and implications for the polls.
The furore over the distribution of Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) reached its peak on January 5, when President Goodluck Jonathan read the riot act to Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Chairman Prof. Attahiru Jega to ensure that all Nigerians have their voter cards on or before the 2015 poll begins on February 14.
“To the chairman of INEC, luckily you are here, all Nigerians must get their voter cards, we cannot conduct an election where some people will not have the rights to vote…and INEC must do everything possible to make sure that all Nigerians have their voters’ cards because we cannot have a situation where some Nigerians will not vote that day,” Jonathan told the INEC chief.
The President’s order was the climax of the nationwide protests against alleged irregularities in the distribution of the PVCs by INEC.
Barely 36 days to the 2015 poll, many eligible voters, including former Heads of State, governors, and the downtrodden are still struggling to get the all-important PVCs.
How electoral body
opted for PVC
The road to the introduction PVCs began after the filtration of the Voters Register. According to INEC, at the end of the general registration of voters in 2011, 73. 5 million eligible voters were captured, including the records of multiple registrants. But after the de-duplication with the Automated Fingerprint Identification Software (AFIS), the actual figure stood at 70,383,427 voters. The result of the 2011 presidential election showed valid votes of 39,469,484 96.81 with valid votes turnout of 53.7 per cent. The invalid votes were 1,259,506 3.19.
Thereafter, INEC came up with a 10-year PVC system to eliminate multiple registrations, check rigging through ghost voters and feed the card with biometrics that would prevent impersonation at the polls. In the beginning, Jega, who addressed an INEC/civil society dialogue, said: “With the design of the card and specification, it will serve for an average of 10 years, as it could also be used for the 2019 elections. The electronic voters’ card would check people buying voters card, eliminate multiple voting, electoral fraud and ensure credible and transparent polls.”
Troubled timeline of PVC
Based on INEC’s proposal, the Federal Executive Council (FEC), had in April 2012, awarded the contract for the printing of 40 million PVCs. The INEC’s ICT Director, Mr. Chidi Nwafor, had disclosed that the printing of the 40 million PVCs would cost N2.6 billion and the production was expected to be handled by Art Technology Limited, with the technical partner “Obature” in France, at the cost of N65 per card. He also said INEC was working toward achieving the 40 million voter cards before the end of 2012 in the first phase of the distribution of the cards. Similarly in 2013, the contract for additional 33.5 million cards was awarded by the FEC.
Speaking on the timeline, Jega said INEC would commence “the issuance of permanent voters’ card early in 2013, as the contract for the production of 40 million voters registered card out of the 73.5 million registered had been awarded. He said by the middle of last year, all the eligible voters who had registered would have been given their PVC’s.
He said: “There are 73.5 million eligible voters but for the first phase we will print 40 million and another part of it for completion is in the budget for 2012.”
Why Nigerians have to wait to get voter cards
Several factors accounted for the delay in the distributing of the PVCs. They included: slow production of the cards which affected INEC distribution timelines; logistical challenges in delivery of the cards; disappearance of data in some polling units; high-level insecurity in some states; poor handling by some ad-hoc staff; apathy by some voters who had change residences among others.
The immediate past Resident Electoral Commissioner of INEC in Lagos, Dr. Adekunle Ogunmola said: “The reason you could not find INEC officials at some polling units was that the data for those units no longer exist. We will be taking our machines to those polling units to re-register the residents, and two machines have been allocated for those units.”
A top INEC director , who spoke in confidence with our correspondent on Thursday also said: “The truth is that we have been receiving the PVCs in batches. What we did was that instead of waiting for the whole cards, we decided to be distributing the cards piecemeal too. This was what accounted for the complaints by some eligible voters in some states.”
Protests galore over shoddy distribution of cards
If there is any issue that has stained the image of INEC, it is PVC distribution. From Lagos to Niger, Sokoto to Delta, there were complaints and fears of likely disenfranchisement of voters. The Chairman of Northern States Governors Forum (NSGF) and Niger State Governor Babangida Aliyu said: “As I speak to you, myself, former military President Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida and Gen Abdulsalami Abubakar, have not collected our PVCs.” He asked the nation to stop the use of PVCs in the coming polls.
Also, Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola said: “Honestly, as I said earlier, I have the Temporary Voter Card (TVC). On one hand, you say we should go and register again, but I have already registered, so why should I register again? It does not make any sense, because anyone can then say the governor registered twice.
“I think INEC should stop hiding behind a finger and tell us truly what their reasons are. They have failed without any logical explanation for it. The system can’t crash in part. If you store data in one place, it’s either you lose it or recover it. Where is the integrity of INEC if it is telling us that it does not have a data recovery system?
“This is an exercise INEC told us they are going to be ready in August, then they moved it to September, then November and they still didn’t get it right. If people are feeling that this is a rigging plan, then we need to be careful and know if INEC is nurturing or threatening this democracy. INEC is giving Nigerians the impression that it is a referee with an interest. From the foundation of the election, the participants are saying this is already wrong and we may be heading for trouble.”
On his part, Ogun State Governor Ibikunle Amosun said: “This exercise has not started. It will hold on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. Anything short of that is not acceptable to us in Ogun State. This is a mess as you can see yourself that people are complaining, it is everywhere.”
The National Leader of the All Progressives Party (APC) and former Lagos State Governor Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, also described the distribution process as shoddy.
He said: “Just as we (APC) merged to form a formidable opposition party, they (INEC) have merged with Jonathan to form a formidable rigging machine. This exercise is a colossal failure.
“INEC has the responsibility to give us a date when the exercise which they did. They were the ones that picked the date. On the eve of the exercise, they announced they could only carry out the exercise in 11 local government areas out of the 20 recognised by the Federal Government.
“Rather than outright boycott, we endured the frustration and appealed to the public to participate. Our field report and personal experience indicated that the exercise in those 11 LGAs failed and it is unacceptable. In some instances, you didn’t find INEC and then in some they did not start on time. …to me, this exercise has failed, it is not acceptable, and we consider it as a rigging exercise. INEC has colluded with the presidency and the opposing party to rig the election from the data to the end.”
Some protesters, under the aegis of Activists for Good Governance (AGG), The Nucleus Group, and TNG added their voice too. Speaking on behalf of the AGG, Comrade Declan Ihekaire said: “2015 is here already and any attempt to disenfranchise Nigerians will mark the beginning of action. What we see is that INEC is short of staff and you are already being nicknamed as trying to rig the election next year. INEC must ensure the PVCs get to the people and they should not attempt to rig the election. Those in power know that there will be protest votes in 2015 and that is why they are trying to rig the election.”
INEC chair disputes failure
But Jega does not believe that the commission was lagging behind in the distribution of the PVCs. At a meeting with the Special Representative of the United Nations (UN) Secretary-General for West and Central Africa, Dr. Mohammed Ibn Chambas, the INEC chairman said the challenges experienced during the third phase of PVCs’ distribution and Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) in some states were transient and do not threaten the Commission’s readiness to deliver superlative elections in 2015. He gave insights into what INEC had been doing.
He said: “Since the 2011 elections, the Commission has devoted a lot of time and energy to keep on improving the processes and setting up policies and mechanisms that can help us have remarkably better elections in 2015. We’ve done quite a lot…Of course, there are challenges; and we have to acknowledge these challenges.
“One of the key things we have done is that we have updated the register, we have cleaned it up and we have been working very hard to produce and distribute what the law says we should – Permanent Voter Cards. We have gone very far with this.
“So far, we have produced PVCs and distributed them in 24 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), and we have also done an update of the register in those states.
“The last phase of the distribution of PVCs and updating the register was to cover the remaining 12 states. I must say with regret that we experienced some challenges in the production of those cards within our defined time schedules, and this has necessitated adjustment of the timeline for distribution of the cards.
“Whereas we had wanted to distribute the cards within the same period in all the remaining 12 states, we now have to stagger it in order to ensure that we have all the cards before they are distributed. And, of course, people have been very anxious and many have been disappointed – not just by the change in the timetable for distribution of the cards but also by the logistical challenges and operational delays experienced in the field.
“But these are minor challenges as far as we are concerned. We are absolutely sure that before the February elections, every validly registered Nigerian will have his / her PVC to be able to exercise their voting right. And we are doing everything possible to ensure that happens.”
The PVC situation as at last week
Records obtained from INEC on Thursday confirmed that the electoral body had issued 54,341,610 so far; distributed 38,774,391.00 in all the 36 states, representing (71.3 per cent) and had a balance of 15,567,219 to issue to eligible voters. The list is as follows: Kano(2,771,185); Kaduna (2,643,517); Lagos (2,159,091); Katsina (1,965,840); Bauchi ( 1,509,255); Jigawa (1,460,620); Rivers (1,253,606); Sokoto (1,211,717); Delta (1,260,728); Akwa Ibom (1,177,910); Oyo (1,141,405); Benue (1,132,187); Niger (1,089,002) Plateau (1,072,352); Kebbi (1,035,780) and Abia (1,020,601)
Other states are Ekiti (481,198); Osun (992,310); Bayelsa ( 370,062); Enugu (662,445); Gombe (802,959); Kogi (755,775); Taraba (921,637); Zamfara (925,302); Anambra (862,747); Cross River (763,436); Ebonyi (687,402); and FCT (411,935).
The remaining distribution rates in other states are: Kwara (670,694); Ondo (824,715); Yobe (740,336); Adamawa (912,312); Edo (930,276); Ogun (672,017); Nasarawa (799,991); and Imo (682,046).
What next for INEC?
Despite the misgivings, INEC has continued to demonstrate the optimistic that it could distribute PVCs to a large number of voters before the elections. The Chief Press Secretary to the INEC chair, said: “We are working round the clock to ensure that all those who were registered collect their PVCs. We are hopeful that most of them will have their PVCs.
“Eligible voters have up to January 31 to collect their PVCs. In fact, we are thinking of adding more days in February to enable Nigerians get these cards.
“The Electoral Act only stipulates when INEC can display register of voters. There is no time-limit in law for the distribution of the PVCs.”
Without much ado, it is obvious that INEC may not be able to distribute PVCs to all voters in line with Section 16 of the Electoral Act. The section says: “The commission shall design or cause to be printed and control the issuance of voters’ cards to voters whose names appear in the register. The commission may, whenever it considers it necessary, replace all or any voters’ cards for the time being held by voters.”
There are four options before the electoral commission: to go ahead with the innovation of PVCs irrespective of those who might be disenfranchised or suspend the use of PVCs by allowing eligible voters to exercise their rights with the TVCs issued for the 2011 poll; and by allowing the acceptance of PVCs and TVCs during the February polls.
The fourth alternative is to shift the poll until the PVCs are sorted out in order not to disenfranchise some Nigerians. Section 26 of the Electoral Act gives INEC liberty to exercise discretion in such emergencies.
The Section reads: “Where a date has been appointed for the holding of an election and there is reason to believe that a serious breach of the peace is likely to occur if the election is proceeded with on that date or it is impossible to conduct elections as a result of natural disasters or other emergencies, the commission may postpone the election and shall in respect of the postponed election, provided that such reason for the postponement is cogent and verifiable.”
An INEC within the electoral body said the commission will go ahead with the use of PVCs because the disenfranchisement might not substantially affect the outcome of elections at all levels. “We will not change our plans to use PVCs for the polls, we have gone far on this project to change our position,” the source added.
Can legal action on pvc invalidate 2015 poll?
Though INEC is adamant on the use of PVCs, it might face legal action from some smart politicians who might not be favoured by the outcome of the polls. Findings however revealed that those likely to be disenfranchised might not win such a matter because once the denial of voting right has no substantial effect on polls’ results, those affected may have no case. It was learnt that the Supreme Court had made a pronouncement on this type of electoral challenge in Bola Ige vs Victor Olunloyo, 1984 1 SC.
An Abuja-based lawyer, Yoonus Abdulsalam, said: “The disenfranchisement of an eligible voter is an irregularity but to invalidate any election, the irregularity has to be substantial to warrant annulment.”
Will electoral umpire survive poitics of PVC
There may be no legal inhibitions against INEC for disenfranchising some eligible voters but the electoral commission may not be able to survive the attendant politics which such a shoddy exercise might attract. If the PVC problem overwhelms INEC at the last minutes, it can erode the confidence of Nigerians in the electoral umpire, affects its credibility, and it may make the outcome of the poll questionable. The ball is in Jega’s hands to guide INEC to ensure the success of the PVCs and deliver credible polls. Will INEC slump into the booby trap of “failure-seeking” politicians because of PVCs? Only time will tell.
