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Tag: PVC

  • INEC’s card readers test-run largely successful nationwide

    INEC’s card readers test-run largely successful nationwide

    •Cloned PVC detected in Rivers
    •PDP kicks over exercise

    The test-run of card readers’ machines by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in 12 states was largely successful with pockets of hitches in some areas.

    Many of the machines deployed by the commission performed excellently though the thumb prints of some voters were rejected.

    Turnouts varied from state to state with voters in the north more enthusiastic.

    The ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), however, protested what it described as “series of complaints from Nigerians”.

    Its National Publicity Secretary, Olisa Metuh, in a statement yesterday, said: “Our response to the emerging problems and challenges from Saturday’s testing of the card reader is ‘RES IPSA LOQUITOR’- the fact speaks for itself.

    “The PDP and indeed all well-meaning Nigerians await INEC’s official response and or its final decision after such defining challenges.”

    58 percent voters authentic in Niger

    In Niger, 58 percent with Permanent Voters’ Card (PVCs) have been cleared as authentic in Niger State.

    The card readers’ machine rejected the remaining 42 percent voters.

    The National Commissioner for the electoral body, Dr. Chris Iyimoga, disclosed these in Gwada ward of Shiroro Local Government area.

    He said the figures were from the 18 polling units in the ward, which initially had a total of 10,243 persons with PVCs and Temporary Voter Cards (TVCs).

    Only 1,799 eligible voters, he added, turned up for the exercise out of which 1,045 were authenticated by the card readers.

    Some voters however complained about the delays encountered with the device during the test-run.

    They expressed fear that Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) may not meet up with the time allocated for accreditation of voters during elections.

    The All Progressives Congress (APC)ý in the state commended the electoral body for exercise, stating that the device may be free from abuse.

    Its Public Secretary, Jonathan Vatsa, who observed the exercise, said INEC did a fantastic job, adding that it would knock out the issue of multiple voting.

    “APC is in support of the card readers. This shows that we are moving away from the old age to the new age and that we are moving forward as a nation.”

    Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Hon. Umar Ma’ali, also praised INEC.

    He stated his party was satisfied with the device but skeptical with the time frame for accreditation.

    “It takes more time to accredit one voter. The time allocated will not meet up with the accreditation of the voters.

    “PDP is satisfied with the card readers. We only have questions on the time frame. The time allocated is five hours and it takes one minute to accredit a voter.

    “If there are 1,000 voters in a polling unit, it means it would take up to 14 hours to accredit them. Something needs to be done about this.”

    Device records hitches in Ebonyi 

    There were hiccups with the card readers’ machines deployed by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for test-run in Ebonyi.

    Most eligible voters complained the machines did not capture their thumb prints.

    They also said the process took longer than expected.

    Director of National Orientation Agency (NOA), Dr. Emma Abbah, attributed the hiccups to the machines or the servers.

    He disclosed that in a place his team visited, only two out of 22 voters were authenticated.

    ‘’I hope the technical team of INEC is noting the problems to be able to correct the lapses before the main elections,’’ he said.

    The Resident Electoral Commissioner, Dr. Lawrence Azubuike, said the authentication did not go well as expected by the commission.

    ‘’The authentication has been very poor in most of the units. At the end of the day, we are going to get detailed reports from the officers who already have what we called the Incident Reports Forms in which they will fill out the specific issues encountered in the field,’’ he said. 

    Impressive turnout in Kano

    Stakeholders and observers have hailed yesterday’s mock elections in Kano as hugely successful.

    The exercise conducted at Danmaliki ward in Kumbosto local government area also recorded high turnout.

    However, our correspondent observed that out of 60 accredited persons at the 006 polling unit, 39 cases failed.

    The Resident Electoral Commissioner, Alhaji Minkaila Abdullahi, stated that the agency has made contingency arrangement to tackle the hitches.

    According to him: “The only challenge we are facing is the minor problem of the machine capturing some of the finger prints and the cause could be attributed to the texture of individual skin, so the machine is reliable for the elections.”

    “The Commission is mindful of the fact that there is need for assessment and that is why the accreditation is now made to take place from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. The outcome of this exercise will determine the acceptability of the card reader machine for the election.”

    The chairman of Kumbotso Local Government Area, Alhaji Lawal Ismaila, expressed satisfaction with the exercise.

    An observer with Nigeria United for Democracy (NUD), Adamu Adams, stated: “INEC should enlighten the people the more and provide water or spirit so that if people could wash their hands, the process will be easier and faster.

    “So, to me, I can put the level of success of this mock election at 60 per cent.”

    Card readers have come to stay, says REC

    Bauchi’s Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Prof. Hamman   Saad, yesterday dismissed campaigns by some groups and politicians for rejection of card readers for the forthcoming general elections.

    He maintained “nothing would further strengthen and deepen democracy in Nigeria better than the use of the card readers.”

    Saad spoke while demonstrating functions of the readers in his office in Bauchi, the state capital.

    He stressed that “the era of electoral malpractice is over.”

    The REC explained “the Commission has taken adequate and necessary measures to ensure free, fair and credible elections.

    “I want our people to know that the era of election malpractices and rigging by politicians is gone for good.”

    Prof. Sa’ad, who conducted the 2011 general elections in Borno State, disclosed that INEC in Bauchi State has received 5,385 card readers and 4,749 ballot boxes.

    He explained the decision to use card readers was to eliminate electoral malpractices during elections.

    Answering questions on how the device works, Saad stated: “Once the card reader captures the fingerprint of a voter, it records the number and sends it to the central data bank at the INEC National Headquarters, ICT unit Abuja and Bauchi.”

    He warned miscreants to keep away from the polling units as law enforcement agents are permitted to deal with those out to cause trouble or confusion during voting.

    Machines faulty in Anambra

    It took between 10 seconds and 20 minutes for voters who participated in the mock election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to get accredited yesterday in Anambra.

    The card readers rejected the thumb prints of many of the voters.

    Also, few eligible voters turned up for the exercise.

    Voters with confirmed Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs) had their finger prints rejected with the machines indicating ‘verification failed’ when subjected to use.

    The Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Edwin Offor Nwatarali, insisted the readers were in good shape and would work smoothly.

    He explained many of the rejected finger prints were attributable to greasy or dirty fingers.

    Nwatarali said: “We however overcame that by making the voters to wash their hands and cleaning them properly before coming to thumbprint.

    “We believe that on the whole, the card will help us to have a good election.”

    Senator Chris Uba(Anambra South) confirmed the cards worked perfectly, saying they will help to achieve credible polls.

    Uba representing Anambra South Senatorial Zone, also said that the cards were working perfectly and would help to conduct a very credible election.

    Successful verification in Delta

    The mock verification exercise in Delta State was largely successful despite minor glitches and poor turnout.

    The card readers performed without major hitches at Niger Mixed Secondary School and Asagba Primary Schools in Asaba, the state capital.

    Edo Resident Electoral Commissioner, Mike Igini, assured the minor hitches recorded would be accommodated by options such as filling incident form and time compensation.

    Delta State Independent Election Commission (DSIEC boss), Moses Ogbe, urged Nigerians to give the card readers a chance.

    He stated that the error margins of the readers were negligible.

    According to him, the electoral body may provide basic facilities at polling units to accommodate those whose fingerprints were dirty and could not be verified by the card readers.

    Cloned PVC fails in Rivers

    A suspected cloned Permanent Voters Card (PVC) failed verification yesterday in Port-Harcourt during the mock election.

    It was discovered the PVC was not issued by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) after the card readers’ machine failed to recognise the bearer.

    The test-run was conducted in all the 23 units of Ward 1 (Oromineke and Ezimgbu) and the 19 voting points in the area.

    188 officials of INEC carried out the exercise.

    Rivers Resident Electoral Commissioner, Dame Gecila Khan, who monitored the test-run, said the exercise conducted was successful.

    She said the essence of the card readers’ machine was to spot out irregularities.

    At Mopol 19, Old GRA area of Port Harcourt, the turnout was impressive.

    Electoral officials filled out incident forms on their behalf with the promise to rectify the issue before the election dates.

    Parties, observers, voters hail exercise

    International observers, non-governmental organisations, faith-based organisations, eligible voters and political parties have okayed the use of card readers in Ekiti State.

    This was after the test-run of the card readers’ machines at Dallimore Ward 009, which has 21,631 registered voters out of which 14,461 had collected their Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs) across 46 polling units.

    Although the turnout was not impressive, the practical demonstration of the device assured voters the machines were neither time-wasting nor designed to disenfranchise them.

    At about 11.30 am when our reporter visited polling unit 002 at the ward, no fewer than 60 voters had been accredited with the use of the readers.

    The technical officers, who manned the unit, stated that the average time for accreditation ranged from four to six seconds.

    At Ajitadidun/Olora’s compound polling unit 006, it was discovered that the average range of time of accreditation ranged between five and thirteen seconds.

    Eligible voters who participated in the exercise commended INEC for the innovation, which they believed would make the forthcoming polls more credible.

    A voter, who was verified at Dallimore Polling Unit 002, Mrs. Taiwo Ojo, said: “I spent less than five seconds to get accredited. I am happy about one thing, if I had brought a fake voter card, the machine would have detected it and anything that could detect fraud is good for election. So, I support the use of these machines”.

    Political parties in Ekiti State under the auspices of the Conference of Nigeria Political Parties (CNPP) also threw their weight behind the device.

    The state CNPP Chairman, Tunji Ogunlola, who led party leaders to monitor the exercise, described it as very transparent and reliable.

    Parties, who okayed the readers include All Progressives Congress (APC); African Democratic Congress (ADC); KOWA; National Conscience Party (NCP); Alliance for Democracy (AD); All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA); Citizens Popular Party (CPP); Progressive Peoples Alliance (PPA) and Allied Congress Party of Nigeria (ACPN).

    An election observer from the European Union (EU), Mrs. Rumi Anna Dacheva, said she was impressed by the workability of the card readers.

    Machines fail in Taraba

    The card readers failed to identify thumb prints in at least seven polling units yesterday in Taraba.

    The exercise, which began by 800am, was conducted in the polling units of Mutum Biu ward in Gasol local government area of Taraba state.

    The exercise witnessed a large out of voters.

    The polling officer at Kofan Serki Lawan Maigeri and his counterpart at Alhasan polling unit told reporters that the failure of the machines was a major setback for the forthcoming general elections.

    INEC’s National Commissioner in charge of Adamawa, Gombe and Taraba states, Dr. Nuru Yakubu, said the commission was happy with the exercise despite the hitches.

    Yakubu, who was accompanied by INEC Resident Electoral Commissioners of Gombe, Adamawa and Taraba, described the exercise as “a huge success for the commission” since two out of the three aims of the card reader were achieved.

  • Why north has higher PVC collection rate

    SIR: Recently, while flipping through pages of newspapers, I saw an advert questioning the high rate of permanent voter cards (PVC) collection in the north. This sentiment has also been expressed by the presidential campaign team of President Jonathan and some analysts sympathetic to his candidacy.

    I don’t think anybody that has lived in the core North will ever doubt the fact that level of political awareness in the region is very high. I will narrate a personal example.

    I spent one year in the North – Sokoto, for my NYSC. My service year started shortly before the 2007 elections, where Umaru Yar’Adua slugged it out with Muhammadu Buhari for the Aso Rock seat, while Attahiru Bafarawa and his protégé Maigari Dingyadi battled the hugely popular Wammako at the gubernatorial level. The latter evoked more interest.

    I had lived in the South all my years before this time, and I must say I never witnessed half of the political enthusiasm I saw on display in the city ahead of the polls.  It appeared the whole of Sokoto was one political rally ground. This massive political enthusiasm was not limited to the state capital, it was probably more intense in the villages – from Rabah to Tangaza to Balle, Gidan Madi to Illela, Sabon Birni to Yabo, Tureta to Tambuwal, the story was the same!

    I dare say that the most unlettered northerner is probably more politically aware than an average educated person down here. If that is not exactly true, it will be close to it.

    Anyone wonder what northern youths – even the ones that scavenges the crumbs on the refuse dumps in Lagos – does with that transistor radio? To listen to Olamide as our boys do here? To listen to results of Barclays Premier League? No; it serves sole purpose: to know the latest developments in politics, not just in the North, but even globally, through BBC Hausa and other news sources.  It should be noted that at least seven international news media (BBC, VOA, Radio Deutsche Ville, Germany, Radio China etc) have Hausa service.  A friend from Kebbi state told me how his illiterate maternal grandmother knows about everything that happens anywhere in the world, be it Lagos, Syria or Ukraine, sometimes before he, the educated young man gets to hear them. And these are the people you think will not go and register to vote and collect their PVCs?

    Don’t forget this: It is in the South that we fancy private sector jobs that much; majority of the workforce over there work for government – local and state governments. These are people that don’t mind skipping work for one week to go and queue to collect their PVCs; not here where majority are private sector-professionals or blue collar workers, who have only Saturday to register or pick PVCs, with a lot of other programmes (like parties) competing for that Saturday.

    Did anyone also notice Buhari emphasizing “go and pick your PVCs” in all his campaigns?

    From what I know of the North, I do not doubt the percentage of PVC collection at all.

     

    • Suraj Oyewale

    Ajah, Lagos.

  • Public holiday in Bayelsa for PVC collection

    Bayelsa State government has declared today a public holiday to enable registered voters collect their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs).

    A statement signed by the Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Mr. Daniel Iworiso-Markson urged Bayelsans to take advantage of the holiday to visit their communities and places of registrations to collect their PVCs.

    He said the government, through the Office of the Special Adviser to the Governor on Political Matters, would give logistic support to political leaders, to sensitise and mobilise their people in the local councils to obtain their PVCs and vote in the elections.

  • In the streets, the clarity of long PVC lines; in the Senate, a mix of technocratic and voodoo logic

    In the streets, the clarity of long PVC lines; in the Senate, a mix of technocratic and voodoo logic

    I admit it. When I first read news reports that in his appearance before the Nigerian Senate on February 18, 2015, the INEC Chairman, Professor Jega, stoutly refused to give any assurance whatsoever that the elections would hold on the postponed dates of March 28 and April 11, I was greatly disturbed. I was as much disturbed by Jega’s refusal as by the reason that he gave for it, to wit that there were some things that were simply out of his control that made it impossible for him to give the nation his assurance that the elections would hold on the postponed dates. As a matter of fact, it turned out that I was not the only one greatly perturbed by this news. Within a day or two of this news report, I received dozens of emails expressing the same worry that I had. Indeed, some of these emails went as far as to assert bitterly that Jega, my old “comrade”, had sold out, had succumbed to the forces willing to scuttle Elections 2015 and plunge the country into uncertain but perilous months and years ahead. It was on the basis of what these emails said that I decided to check for myself what actually transpired during the INEC Chairman’s appearance before the Senate. For this, I had to listen to several audio and video recordings of the event. In one case – the longest of these internet clips – the audiovisual recording of the event lasts for more than three and half hours. I listened patiently to all of it. This piece is a digest of what I was able to garner from the recordings of Jega’s appearance before the Senate. My worry, my concern remains, but not in the same form before I very carefully went over many short and long recordings of the event.

    In the interest of briskness, let me go directly to what my concerns, my worries are now. In the course of a hearing, a briefing that lasted more than three hours, the INEC Chairman gave an account of preparations for the elections that was truly amazing in its comprehensiveness, attention to details and frankness only to then say that regardless of these preparations, the one and only collective entity that could determine whether or not the elections would hold on the postponed dates are the Service Chiefs. Well, he did not actually put it this bluntly. What he literally said is that there are things beyond his control and when he was pressed on this he said “security”. In other words, what the INEC Chairman was in essence saying was this: concerning everything else minus “security” we are in full control and in spite of a few remaining difficulties and challenges, everything is going well and we are on course to conduct free, fair and credible elections on March 28 and April 11; if we can’t or don’t conduct elections on these postponed dates, not us but “security” will be the cause.

    I don’t think I have ever encountered anything more tainted by voodoo logic and politics than this! In plain language, what this means is that concerning the current election cycle of 2015, “security” is the ultimate deity and the Service Chiefs are his high priests. Indeed, Jega at one point during this extraordinary briefing of the Senators more or less suggested that we should all get on our knees and pray that “security” take pity on us when he said – about himself and INEC – “we are hoping and praying that the Service Chiefs will accomplish their aim in the six weeks that they asked for”.

    At this point, it may perhaps be useful for me to direct the reader to Jega’s briefing of the Senators on the technological aspects of INEC’s preparations for the coming elections. In a commanding, masterful presentation on the technological processes involved in the use of Permanent Voters Cards (PVC) and card readers, the INEC Chairman more or less demolished the opposition of the doubters and disbelievers among the Senators, incidentally most of them from the ruling party, the PDP. He demonstrated how the new technological tools and processes that would be deployed in the current electoral cycle would anticipate and frustrate those who will try to rig the elections, people like fraudsters who are already either stealing or purchasing PVC’s. Moreover, the INEC Chairman gave ample demonstration of his and INEC’s preparedness for both human errors and frailties. About the only item in which Jega at this briefing seems to have been less than convincing and impressive was his testimony on the collection of PVC’s. More on this later in this piece. In all other respects, the INEC Chairman gave a good, perhaps even excellent account of himself. Except of course on his occultation, his mystification of “security” and the Service Chiefs as the ultimate guarantors of whether or not elections will be held on the postponed dates, March 28 and April 11. For the last time in this piece, let me speak briefly in expatiation of this particular issue.

    Neither “security” nor the “Service Chiefs” is an abstraction, an objectified and impersonal avatar like God, like symbolic representations of natural phenomena or like inevitable fate or destiny. Moreover, the will, the volition of the Service Chiefs is not unknowable and inscrutable like that of God and other divinities. They are not only human beings like you and me, they are in fact human agents who have shown how deeply they are tainted by an abject, unprofessional and self-serving deference to the powers that be, in effect to the ruling party. Revelations of their partiality, their spinelessness have left them unmoved and unrepentant. For these reasons, it is nothing short of the height of voodoo logic, of mumbo jumbo thinking to ask us to hope and pray that these same Service Chiefs will have accomplished their security objectives within the six weeks they demanded. Moreover, there is absolutely no legal and constitutional basis for giving these Service Chiefs the last word on whether or not the elections should take place on either the postponed dates or any other dates for that matter. Several times in his briefing of the Senators, Jega asserted that on every disputed item of his preparations for the elections, he had consulted legal and constitutional authorities. But significantly, not once did he say that he had consulted anyone on the legal and constitutional legitimacy of making the Service Chiefs the ultimate arbiter on if and when the elections will take place.

    Concerning the distribution of PVC’s, some Senators disputed Jega’s interesting and confident assertion that the problem was not with “production: but with “collection”. By this, the INEC Chairman meant that although there is a shortfall in the production of PVC’s, there is a much greater problem with “collection”. To prove this, he asserted that to date, more than 66 million out of a total of 68 million PVC’s had been produced and that people are simply not collecting them. Moreover, Jega asserted that in both the Ekiti and Osun gubernatorial elections, less than one third of PVC’s produced were collected. Finally, the Chairman asserted that the 75.9% collected out of the 66 million PVC’s so far produced is an impressive figure, one on which valid elections can be held. So far, so good, it would seem. Except that some senators countered that distribution of PVC’s by INEC officials had in many cases been shoddy and incompetent and that in many places throughout the country people show up without being given PVC’s only for them to return again and again and leave each time empty-handed. On this count, it seems that those long PVC lines that have become ubiquitous this election cycle is an apt metaphor both for the determination of many of our peoples to vote and for their votes to make a difference in their present dire circumstances and gloomy future prospects. I admit that there is a tension between what Jega is saying about the rate of collection of the PVC’s and what the Senators are saying about the epic struggles and the determination of many on those long, long PVC lines. However, a tension is not a contradiction in which one term negates the other; rather, it is an invitation to think creatively, to accord such determination respect and legitimacy.

    I wish to end these observations and reflections on an admittedly somber note. Like all other election cycles, violence has already begun to rear its head in many parts of the country in the run-up to the postponed elections. Only a few days ago, several dozens of people were slaughtered in Port Harcourt. This is both highly regrettable and condemnable. Thankfully, none of the reported cases of these election-related acts of violence remotely requires the deployment of the army. Indeed, in all true and functioning democracies of the world, the place of the army during elections is – the barracks! Even in countries where the regular armed forces are conducting full scale and nationwide counterinsurgency campaigns, the army is never brought in as the ultimate arbiter of when and if elections can and will be held.

    Let us be perfectly clear on this point: if INEC yields ground to “security” and the Service Chiefs as the ultimate arbiters on when and if the elections will take place, this will be nothing other than a coup, a coup that may in the first instance be bloodless but in the long run – heavens help us! – may drown our country in oceans of blood. The epic struggle, the determination expressed in those long PVC lines will not simply fade away, Professor Jega. I say this not as an apostle of doom or a lover of violence but as a student of history and human affairs. In those long PVC queues is a deep, almost bottomless reservoir of controlled violence, this being the bottled up violence caused by suffering, deprivation and injustice.

     

    Biodun Jeyifo

    bjeyifo@fas.harvard.edu

  • Use your PVC for change, APC tells Lagosians

    Use your PVC for change, APC tells Lagosians

    Readers of the All Progressives Congress (APC) have called on voters to collect their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) to vote out the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

    The APC, which continued its campaign rally in Lagos yesterday, urged the electorate not to sell their PVCs.

    The rally, which took place at the Ifako/Ijaiye Mini Stadium, attracted a large crowd of party chieftains, supporters, popular Nollywood artistes and youths.

    Addressing the party supports, Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola expressed concerns about the non-collection of 1.4 million PVCs in the state.

    He called on residents to visit their polling units to collect their cards.

    The governor said about 3.6m PVCs were brought to Lagos, of which about 2.2million had been collected.

    Fashola said another window of opportunity would open today for residents to go and collect their PVCs as INEC would return the cards to the polling units.

    The governor reminded the people that projects around the Ifako-Ijaiye area, the Maternal and Child Centre (MCC), two new schools, Yaya Abatan Street among others “were made possible by your voter cards, votes and taxes”.

    He said under the APC governorship candidate, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, the state would improve upon what the government has done so far.

    “Let me adjudge our performance from this place Ifako Ijaiye. Four years ago, when I campaigned on this ground, the youth in this community told me that they would vote but they wanted a stadium. Is that not so? I promised you a stadium; can you see it in the making?

     “That is the character of the APC government. When we promise, we deliver. We are not a government of promise, promise without matching it with action.

    “In our case, we don’t just promise, but fulfil what we promise the people. I remember the very first week of June 2007, one week after you elected me; this is where I started my first programme.

    “We screened women, adults for diabetics and hypertension. We started the work of delivering on our promises at the General Hospital here in Ifako before we took it round the whole state.

    “I feel fulfilled and I glorify God too when I see that the APC has fulfilled its promises. The promises that I made, I can fulfil in your life time. I thank my party as well. As Akinwunmi Ambode has told you today, that whatever we cannot complete, he will fulfill them.

    “Take it as a covenant made in honour. They have said President Goodluck Jonathan is coming to Lagos, let him because it is part of his constituency, but we will not vote for him.

    “When we needed him, he did not come to help us. When Ebola hit Lagos, did he come? No. When water started flooding at Kuramo Beach, did he come? No.

    “So, you have been on your own, with your own party and your own government.

    “So, the President can come 200 times, but will you vote for him? No. The only time the President came is a few weeks to the elections. During the years when there was crisis, we did not see him.

    He said the falling power of the naira is hurting everybody, irrespective of religion and tribe.

    “Those of you who are traders, unless you vote out Jonathan you are going continue in the pain. If you don’t vote out this government, the money will become N300 to a dollar. They have done enough damage, it is time for them to go.”

    He urged the people to be prepared to use their PVC to end the Jonathan government, noting that he will only leave the stage with the power of the ballot.

    ”What you need to remove PDP is the PVC. What you need to vote in President Muhammadu Buhari is the PVC. You need your PVC to vote Ambode, Solomon Adeola and other APC candidates.”

     Ambode said the tricks of the PDP have been exposed to the people, noting that the Nigerians were now wiser.

    “We should not sell our PVCs, when they give you money collect it because it is our money. They are now sharing dollars all over the place.

    “The reason they are sharing dollars is that they have made the naira worthless. When they came the dollar was N110 now it is N210.

    “The PDP has made life unbearable for many people and now they are seeking an extension, but we will not allow them because they have nothing to offer.

    “We want continuity because Lagos is known for excellence just the same way we want to replicate that tradition of excellence at the federal  level.

    “We are tired of impunity, we are tired of corruption, we want progress, when you cast your minds back to the last few years Lagos is the example of a modest government.

    “When Nigeria is great, the economy will improve and Lagos will be more prosperous, so, let’s use the remaining few weeks to get our PVCs and perform our civic responsibilities,” he said.

     Commissioner for Works and Infrastructure Obafemi Hamzat said Lagosians needed a tested and trusted leader.

    “Lagos is not for beginners. The PDP cannot offer anything useful to our people.

    “APC does not have abandoned projects in its dictionary. That phrase is peculiar with the PDP and we are not ready for that in Lagos.

    Artistes like Adewale Elesho, Lasun Ray, Fadeyi Oloro, Baba Ijesha Lawori and Ajanaku urged  voters to collect their PVCs.

    Elesho said: “We have been told they are planning to rig again but we can prevent them by ensuring we protect our votes. Those of you who are selling your PVCs are selling your future.”

  • My PVC is not for sale

    Just as the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is distributing Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) to all voters for the coming general elections, some politicians and their agents are looking for ways to compromise the judgment of voters for selfish reason.

    They have been going about for inducement of the people with various expendable items, such as bag of rice, yam and cash gifts. All these are meant to compromise the electoral process and make voters to choose wrong choice.

    But, as a note of warning, my PVC is not for sale. It is my personal commodity to exercise my franchise. It is to effect change and make me contribute towards the progress and development of the country. It is my power, voice and instrument to either say “no” or “yes” to people wanting to govern my country.

    I will use it to change powerless and crawling economy and support a productive, vigorous and censored economy. These are part of the changes my PVC can do; that’s why it is not for sale.

    Just as I make this vow not sell my PVC, I expect many youths to do the same. It is our privilege and chance that will either make us better or bitter after the election, depending on how we use it. We all crave for sound and qualitative education and want to leave school as employable graduate. We must use our PVCs to do this.

    Our PVCs are our identities. They identify us as patriotic and visionary, who will rather vote for the future than cast our future out of the votes. That is what our PVCs can do and that is why it should not be up for sale.

    If we see our neighbours trying to sell their PVCs, we must tell them that their PVCs are their passports and visas to a safe country. They can make their dreams come true and take them to the place of their dreams. That is what their PVCs can do and that is why it should not be for sale.

    Beyond the physical PVCs in our hand, there is a PVC, which money cannot afford; it is our person and conscience.  It is our conscience that tells us what business to do with it. It teaches us to share the profits for today and tomorrow. Why will we then declare a state of emergency on our persons and conscience because of money?

    Money is simply a servant; we need it to work for us and our vision. Our conscience is the passage that cuts across both. Why do we need money if it is not to get what we want?

    Nigeria has been yearning for manifestation of good signs. Never have we had an opportunity like this to sit in the examination hall of history to make a choice between prosperity and poverty. Whatever we tick in this examination will either bring us to good and prosperous four years or another period of tribulations. It is a critical period for us, but it is more critical for the generation ahead. Whatever we tick will give rise to a new country for our unborn generation or present a poverty-stricken jungle to them.

    We all must make up our minds to be part of the history. Our actions today may bring a true nation for us tomorrow. If we don’t want our tomorrow as youths not to be traded off today, we must act and make a good choice today.

    Nigeria is worth living for, but it is not worth dying for, because there is no need to die for Nigeria before Nigeria can be great. If death brings birth, Abraham Lincoln needed not intervene in the American

    Civil War, but he did because there is tremendous power in a people alive in unity. It brought a trembling development despite diversity.

    Nigeria will live, and as youths we shall not die but live to realise the promises of generations that will come after us. I am proud to be a Nigerian. Are

  • PVC collection: INEC allays fears of non-indigenes

    PVC collection: INEC allays fears of non-indigenes

    The Lagos State Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Mr. Akin Orebiyi, has refuted the claim that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is disenfranchising non-indigenes, by denying them their Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs). He said there are still 1.8 million cards waiting for people to collect, adding that those who have not collected theirs should come forward to do so.

    Speaking at a press conference in Lagos to update the public on developments concerning its preparations towards the forthcoming general elections, Orebiyi said the Commission in Lagos and elsewhere in the country are working round the clock to ensure that all registered voters collect their cards.

    He said: “As we speak, out of 5.9 million cards for Lagos State, we have distributed 3.6 million cards, which amounts to 62.7 per cent as at the end of last week. But, out of the 5.9 million cards, we are still waiting for about 400,000 cards. We are expecting cards in practically all the 20 local governments of the state.”

    The REC said people are construing the delay in arrival of the cards to mean that the Commission is denying some particular sections of the state their right to vote. He said: “It is not the intention of INEC to deny any ethnic group or any single community the collection of their cards. When we carried out the registration exercises, both in 2011 and 2014, people were not registered on the basis of which part of the country they came from. Therefore, there is no way we could have said these are the particular cards for a particular community.

    “Interestingly, the group that came here to lodge their complaints, when we looked at their letter and the names of those who were yet to collect their cards in their community, specifically from Ajeromi/Ifelodun, the names cut across all the ethnic groups. So, there is no intention on the part of INEC or any of its officials, within Lagos State or any part of Nigeria, to deny any community, any group the collection of their cards.”

    Orebiyi said Lagosians should not wait until the deadline on Sunday March 8 to collect the PVCs. He said from this week, collection of PVCs in the state would be extended to the polling units on Fridays and Saturdays, to bring it nearer to the people. For now, PVC distribution is taking place at INEC offices in the 20 local governments.

    He said when he took charge as the REC in January the percentage of PVC distribution was around 38 per cent, “but as at the end of last week, it was 62.7 per cent.”

    Orebiyi, who also used the opportunity to demonstrate how the Smart Card Readers that would be deployed on election day works, said his office has received about 12,000 card readers and that the commission’s staffs are busy, trying to configure them in readiness for the election. According the REC, each Smart Card Reader is configured to work in a particular polling unit. In other words, it cannot work in any other polling unit other than the one it is configured for. “The implication of this is that it will only identify or authenticate PVCs for that particular polling unit,” he said.

    He said there are two steps in the operation of the Smart Card Readers that would be followed when it is deployed for the election. His words: “One is authentication; this is to ascertain that the card belongs to INEC. If anybody brings another PVC that is not issued by INEC, it will not authenticate it or recognize it as INEC’s card. So, the issue of fake cards or clowned PVCs will not arise, because the Smart Card Reader will not authenticate it.

    “The next step, after the authentication, is the verification stage, where the bearer of the card would be asked to put his thumb on a particular point on the Smart Card Reader, to verify whether he or she is the rightful owner of the card. The implication of this is that no person can use another person’s card. This means that no person can be accredited and possibly vote in more than one place. These are some of the measures we’ve put in place to ensure a more transparent process this time around.”

    He said the Smart Card Reader is very reliable, because it has been tested in other countries, including Ghana and Kenya, where it worked effectively well. “The battery life of the Smart Card Readers is 12 hours. During the general election, it is going to be in use within the hours of 8am and 1pm,” the REC added.

    Orebiyi said the Smart Card Readers would be charged well in advance and overnight before the election day. He said provision would be made for a generator per collation centre, to ensure that the issue of the Card Readers failing because there is light to charge them would be ruled out. “But, in the case of failure, there is a contingency arrangement for a back-up,” he added.

    He said the electoral process this year would be dramatically different from what obtained in the past, as every vote would count because Nigeria has come to stage where it would no longer be business as usual.

  • ‘No PVC, no communion’

    Rev. Uma Ukpai of Victory Cathedral Fellowship Centre, Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital, has said the church will stop communion for members who have not collected their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs).

    The cleric, who spoke during a church service, added that it was unpatriotic for any eligible voter not to participate in the electoral process.

    He urged the electorate to use the opportunity provided by the rescheduled elections by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to collect their PVCs to enable them chose the leaders of their choice.

    He said: “The 2015 general elections are too important for a Nigerian of voting age not to participate in electing his or her political leaders for the next four years.

    “If you are a true member of this fellowship and you have not collected your PVC, know that you will not partake in our communion service.”

  • June 12 to February 14

    From 12 June 1993 to 14 February 2015 may have taken 21, going to 22, long years.  But the reactionary forces billeted in Nigeria’s power chambers have changed little.

    That is the long and short of the aborted February 14 presidential poll, now moved to March 28 — and democratic forces had better take notice.

    While June 12 aborted the result of Nigeria’s cleanest election ever, February 14 postponed — but hopes it has aborted — the looming electoral demise of a failed presidency; proven by an increasing momentum, pointing at a probable Valentine Day’s electoral guillotine of President Goodluck Jonathan and his ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

    Even after the perils of June 12, February 14 was power magicians at work.  Nigeria, we hail thee!

    But more electorally significant: February 14 was to mark a novel IT offensive on polls rigging — use of card readers to biometrically authenticate the voter.

    That has led to another furious round of debates — temporary voter cards (TVCs) versus permanent voter cards (PVC).  If PDP is bearish, and All Progressives Congress (APC) is bullish, on PVC use, as Attahiru Jega’s Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) insists, you can guess which of the two has the electoral bounce.

    You could also guess which side is hollering, bawling and cursing, just to fiddle the vote.  PVC has a chip to thwart voter impersonation.  TVC has no such in-built check.  So, if one side now pushes for TVC, on some subversive love for the voter, you could guess where it figures its electoral salvation is — soulless rigging!

    The gripping fear of crushing defeat would, therefore, appear, for the ruling party, the beginning of wisdom — which might soon turn grave folly, for wilful stalling of due elections, in a supposed democracy, is grim business, bordering on treason.

    That is why you must really pity Ijaw elder Pa Edwin Clark and his Southern Nigeria confederates, even if you first feel, towards their  latest  cant, only justifiable anger.

    Clark is unfazed symptom of a collapsed community.  He has been since when, from Ken Saro-Wiwa’s lofty heights (which the Nigerian state unfortunately visited with a hideous hanging), militants, many of them no more than miscreants and equal-opportunity criminals, hijacked the Niger Delta cause.

    In the Goodluck Jonathan presidential cause, Clark and his Ijaw lobby have continued to betray their collapsed community.  Elder, Clark would libel the non-Ijaw for even daring to think not voting Jonathan.  Youngster, the brash Asari Dokubo, would threaten to levy war.  From Jonathan, the supposed commander-in-chief, mum is the word.

    Even the sedate and gifted Atedo Peterside would author an analytical fraud, presuming whoever read his piece, on the supposed bad sides of the two major presidential candidates, would be too dumb to see through the charade.  An ultra-mischievous political analyst never chanced on the polity!

    Clark got his wish to postpone February 14.  And with crushing defeat postponed, Atahiru Jega, the INEC chair, is his next quarry — to avert looming electoral disaster.  How fond!

    Clark, with his so-called Southern Nigeria People’s Assembly (SNPA), have called for Prof. Jega’s sack and arrest; for alleged offences only their jumbled minds can understand! Like June 12 which demonised, abused and sacked Humphrey Nwosu for delivering the cleanest election in Nigerian history, Clark’s SNPA pushes for Jega’s sack — and INEC’s dissolution — because it dreads his election would, for the first time, visit a Nigerian ruling party with free and fair defeat.

    The SNPA push is so comical, were it not so tragic.  It goads a contesting president to sack the electoral umpire.  But isn’t that like a football player sacking the referee mid-game, just because his side is facing a wallop?  Only Nigeria could tolerate such buffoonery!

    Worse: that President Jonathan could delude himself he has such powers — though in his latest presidential chat he mercifully claimed he never thought of wielding such — is satanic tribute to gunboat thinking!

    Clark’s SNPA confederates, Alex Ekwueme, Walter Ofonagoro, Chukwuemeka Ezeife, Femi Okunrounmu, with others, are a perplexing mix: unfazed reactionaries with life-long devotion to dubious causes; otherwise decent citizens who just don’t appreciate their due place in the Nigerian epoch; and reactionary neophytes, newly recruited to the Nigerian wide and merry way, that leads nowhere but perdition.

    More: all are pledged to a near-fatally damaged presidential product in Jonathan.  And worse: all labour in vain over a fictive political Southern Nigeria.  Geographically, there is indeed a Nigerian South.  But, as in a political North?  That is plain fiction!  Still, even with all their heroics, colluding to stall legitimate elections, they are only marionettes.

    The real power puppeteers are bivouacked behind the scene — and democratic forces owe Femi Falana, SAN, a debt of gratitude for his rare insight in this matter.  He insisted that the noxious, anti-June 12 forces are at work again, in the election postponement gambit.

    Take Sambo Dasuki, President Jonathan’s national security adviser (NSA).  He first flew the postpone-the-election kite in London.  Then, even after Jega had won the election debate before the National Council of State, he was part of the coup de grace — with the service chiefs in tow — that claimed the military could not guarantee security for the election, thus forcing Jega to postpone.

    So, for the first time in Nigerian history, not the military-in-power, not an errant elected commander-in-chief but security chiefs, sworn to oath under civil authority, gave the diktat — and the feckless commander-in-chief, rippling with crass power opportunism, could only gawk and gloriously concur!

    Still on Dasuki, but some blast from the past: he was part of the IBB palace coup that toppled Gen. Buhari; and was probably part of the IBB ensemble that pulled off June 12.

    Of course, Col. Dasuki (rtd) is no devil any more than co-power players of his generation are angels.  But he appears a grim metaphor for intense private fears that force intense public anguish — like the annulment of June 12 and postponement of February 14.

    Even the Afenifere grandees that pressed into Jonathan’s service, the blanket Yoruba support they don’t have, appear to suffer from such irrational fears.

    But, at the end of the day, the tragic, cruel joke is on the Commander-in-Chief.  The man who hates to be a General, appears being merrily snared in the generals’ plot.  The man who balks at being Nebuchadnezzar appears set to be consumed by Nebuchadnezzar’s tragic conceit.  And the man who is riled at being Pharaoh, appears leading his deaf, dumb and blind forces to sink, without trace, in the Red Sea!  May the good Lord save Jonathan from Jonathan!

    Still, Nigeria’s democracy would remain hugely suspect until felons behind clear treasonable manoeuvres are direly punished.  If that had been done on June 12, there would not have been February 14.

    As for Pa Clark and his misguided Ijaw irredentists, pushing a vacuous cause, a friendly reminder: the last time such a rascality got out of control, a brainless Nigerian state wiped out innocent Odi villagers, for the sins of a criminal few.

    What fresh perils bring these present manoeuvres on the polity?  Only the good Lord can tell!

  • ‘Calls for non-use of PVC must be rejected’

    The Buhari/Osinbajo Campaign Organisation has rejected calls that the Permanent Voter Card (PVC) be discarded in the elections.

    It described the suggestion as reprehensible and totally unacceptable, adding that it would be resisted.

    In a statement by the office of its Southwest coordinator, the organisation said the latest in the Presidency’s pre-mediated, well-coordinated and heavily-funded campaign to truncate democracy was the call for the abandonment of PVC.

    It said the PVC and the card readers were procured at enormous cost to thwart the coordination of ‘rigging’ mechanisms, as well as prevent  multiple voting.

    “Besides, they have been tried and tested in previous elections in Ekiti and Osun states and have been accepted by the parties taking part in the electoral process,” the organisation said.

    It added: “There is, therefore, a vital need to entrench its use in our electoral process for all times.”

    The organisation said anti-democratic forces would stop at nothing to ensure the election did not hold, including flying the kite for yet another shift in the date of the  elections.

    “Every excuse will be used to prevent a free and fair election from being held. As soon as one set of demands are met, the anti-democrats will bring out another. In effect they are asking those on the side of the constitution and in support of democracy to carry out a policy of appeasing their perennially-shifting demands. To acquiesce to this demand is fraught with grave dangers to the constitution. For in the course of contemporary, a policy of appeasement has never worked.

    “When contrived excuses about inadequate distribution of PVC’s is not used, the problem of security in the Northeast, misgivings purportedly emanating from the security forces and so forth will be put into play; other excuses will eternally be concocted until the whole process is truncated. In the process, the enthusiasm of the electorate will be dampened. This must not be allowed to happen,” it said.

    The organisation called for vigilance, saying: “In the face of provocation including a contrived state-of-siege, and policies of intimidation against key members of the government-in-waiting, we must insist on the use of the PVC’s and resist any further shift in the date of the election.”

    The statement added: “The issue we are faced with is that Nigeria faces a tryst with destiny. The issue goes beyond the personalities involved in the current electoral contest. Nigeria for the first time in a long while faces an unambiguous choice between a dismal past of recurring under- achievement and widespread poverty amidst massive earnings from the sale of crude oil.

    “This is the Nigeria paradox. Opposing this is the possibility of real, decisive and irreversible change to enhance the lives of the mass of the working peoples and their families. It is not surprising that the old order is fighting back to truncate the prospect of profound change and irreversible change.

    “The Nigerian people are insisting on democratic change through the ballot box, this means that there is both a moral obligation as well as a political imperative to counter-act all the current attempts to stall it. The enemies of democracy must be resisted. For frankly, there is no alternative.”