The Nation Newspaper

Tag: PVCs

  • Four arrested with 500 PVCs in Ogbomoso

    Vigilant residents of Ogbomoso in Oyo State yesterday nabbed four occupants of a vehicle for allegedly being in possession of 500 Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs).

    The development created pandemonium at the Orita-Sekoni part of the town.

    Police officers had to shoot sporadically to rescue the suspected electoral thieves from irate mobs.

    An eyewitness told The Nation that the suspects, who occupied a Honda Accord car AR 892 LUY, were stopped by residents on a tip-off.

    The timely arrival of police officers saved the suspects from being lynched.

    It was gathered that only the driver of the vehicle managed to escape the ire of the residents.

    Another eyewitness said the suspects were known political associates of an Ibadan-born governorship candidate of a leading political party.

    The Police Public Relations Officer, Adekunle Ajisebutu, confirmed the incident but said the suspects were in possession of 10 Temporary Voters Cards (TVCs) and four PVCs.

    He added that only one person identified as Rotimi Okediji was caught and arrested.

  • Men caught with 500 PVCs

    Four men found to be in possession of about 500 Permanent Voter Cards (PVC) were on Saturday  arrested in Ogbomoso, Oyo State.

    They were intercepted by residents at Orita Sekoni area of the town following a tip-off.

    The suspects occupied a Honda Accord car with registration number AR 892 LUY when they were caught.

    The incident led to a pandemonium in the area as some irate youths attempted to lynch them.

    The timely intervention of policemen saved  the suspects. The driver of the car, however, escaped, according to an eye witness.

    On arrival, the policemen were said to have shot sporadically into the air to scare the mob away from the scene to arrest the suspects.

    When contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) in the state, Mr Adekunle Ajisebutu, said he has not been briefed.

  • No distribution of PVCs in Aganmathen community in Lagos

    THIS is a message for Professor Attahiru Jega, the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). And we want him to take an urgent action on it.

    Many people of our community, Aganmathen, in the Ajara area of the Badagry Central Local Government Area of Lagos State, are yet to get their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs).

    As we write this, over 5,000 people from four of the eight units in the community who were duly registered by the INEC during the second registration of eligible voters are yet to collect their cards.

    No INEC officials came to the units to distribute the cards, and when the INEC Office at Ibereko was visited in order to collect them, they were all disappointed. The officials could not give a satisfactory answer on the non-availability of the cards.

    The affected units are 14, 17, 18 and 19. Also another unit  in Ajara Topo is also affected.

    We did the registration as a condition for voting those that will represent us in the governance of our beloved country, state and local government. Why is the INEC trying to disenfranchise us from performing our legitimate duty?

    Last Wednesday, members of the community protested at the INEC Office, displaying placards urging the electoral body to give them their cards.

    During the protest, the Electoral Officer at Ibereko, Mr Odu Chinedu I.S, was said to have gone to Lagos for an official assignment. Mr Ilo Frednard, who attended to us, promised that the commission would look into the matter within one week. He said there was a hitch with the registration in Units 14 and 15, while the cards of other units were being expected from Abuja.

    Another officer of the INEC blamed the problem on wrong coding, adding that the INEC would not want a situation where coding problem would prevent the electorate from voting.

    We are appealing to Prof. Jega to look into this matter and give us our PVCs.

    If the cards are not provided, we shall continue to ask for them in a peaceful manner.

     

    Mr Solomon Hunwi, Chief Avosegamu Godonu and Mr Todowede Abel,

    Aganmathen, Lagos State.

  • 55.5m PVCs collected as Ogun gets 170,000 cards

    55.5m PVCs collected as Ogun gets 170,000 cards

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has said that 55.490 million Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) have been collected as at yesterday.

    There are 68.833,476 million names on the INEC register.

    According to INEC’s latest update, the collection rate is now 80.61 per cent. There are still 13.343 million PVCs for collection before the March 22 deadline.

    Most states have attained between 60 per cent and above collection rate apart from Ogun state which has 47 per cent collection rate. Gombe and Zamfara have recorded 95 per cent

    Ogun State INEC said yesterday that it had taken delivery of additional 170,000 PVCs.

    The Administrative Secretary of the commission, Mr. Dickson Atiba, told reporters that the new consignment brought from Abuja contained between 170,000 to 190,000 PVCs, noting that the remaining ones would arrive before Friday.

    “We have 15 cartons for Ifo Local government, 12 cartons for Ijebu-Ode Local government, 14 cartons for Ado-Odo/ Ota Local Government, 19 cartons for Sagamu Local Government, four cartons for Odogbolu Local Government, one carton for Obafemi Owode Local government, one carton, Abeokuta South Local Government, one carton for Abeokuta North, one carton for Ijebu East and then we have some pieces, which are in about five small cartons.”

    Last week, the state Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) Chief Timothy Ibitoye, said the state had a shortfall of 425,454 PVCs, still being expected from Abuja.

    He put the number of registered voters in the state at 1,795,794.

     

  • Ahmed cautions voters against selling PVCs

    Kwara State Governor Abdul Fatah Ahmed has urged voters not to sell their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) to desperate politicians.

    He spoke to reporters at Banni in Kaiama Local Government during the All Progressives Congress’ (APC’s) campaign tour.

    Ahmed said PVCs was the only weapon in the hands of the electorate to elect leaders of their choice, warning them not to allow any politician to disenfranchise them in whatever disguise.

    He said what Nigerians were yearning for was a change from bad governance to good governance.

    The governor hailed the people of Kwara North for leading in the collection of PVCs and enjoined the indigenes to vote wisely by voting for the APC candidates “because the party has performed.”

     

  • PDP renews opposition to Card Readers, PVCs

    PDP renews opposition to Card Readers, PVCs

    The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has stepped up its campaign against Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) chairman Prof. Attahiru Jega.

    It also renewed its opposition to the use of Smart Card Readers (SCRs) and the Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) for the general elections rescheduled for March 28 and April 11.

    At a media briefing in Abuja on Monday, the PDP Integrity Vanguard, an interest group within the ruling party, raised issues on the integrity, propriety and appropriateness of deploying the card readers and the PVCs for the purpose of the elections.

    Leaders of the group, Sen. Anietie Okon and Chief Sergeant Awuse sought explanations on why some states in the Boko Haram ravaged Northeast had over 70-80 per cent collection rates of the PVCs when many of the people in such states have been forced out of their communities.

    The duo of Okon and Awuse said: “Isn’t it curious that Lagos, Ogun and several states in the South trailed behind in PVCs collection despite abundant manpower compared to the Northeast?

    “Whereas INEC planned and announced that the distribution register of collection would be used, this was disregarded in the Northeast as some states’ INEC offices claimed that the distribution registers were not available and thus distributed without register.”

    According to them, INEC distributed the PVCs in some states in the Northeast without the use of voter registers and that the commission had decided not to use SCRs in the Northeast.

    They further alleged that PVCs were simply delivered to some unnamed politicians, district heads and clerics in some unnamed states in the Northeast.

    They continued: “Insiders disclosed that the high prevalence of distribution and collection in the Northeast was achievable because distribution registers were deliberately avoided in order to effectively cover up the impending electoral fraud planned by Prof. Jega and the APC.

    “As we speak, in most parts of the Northeast, millions of PVCs remain in the hands of powerful APC politicians. These cards will never get to their owners. Jega’s plan is to grant SCRs waiver to allow these PVCs to be used!

    “Without question, Jega has proven to be irredeemably unpatriotic. INEC has just shifted the deadline for PVC collection. Can this shift still be attributed to security frailties?

    “It is clear that Jega and INEC remain persistently impenitent in their determination to foist a predetermined outcome on Nigerians in the forthcoming March/April elections.

    “Jega has also demonstrated dismal capacity and paucity of competent ideas to conduct elections in a complex ethno-religious composition like Nigeria. We therefore express total lack of confidence in Jega to superintend these elections, having failed to meet timelines and the benchmark for the conduct of credible elections in any clime.

    “To attenuate their reprehensible plan further is the fact that Jega’s INEC has also invented a certain ‘incident form’ that will allow anyone to vote if his biometrics cannot be verified or authenticated.

    “In other words, if the SCRs) Card fails to authenticate the biometrics of a would-be voter, that person simply fills a form and goes ahead to vote!

    “What then is the essence of the biometrics if they cannot be trusted to provide the last security gateway against electoral fraud? This portends grave danger and is a recipe for unrestrained confusion at the polling stations.

    “Rather than continue to engage in this chicanery, Jega should come clean and admit failure and save us anguish and national embarrassment. Jega’s integrity and strength of character has been greatly impugned. To allow Jega to conduct the 2015 elections is clearly to become complicit in Jega’s unconcealed criminal intentions.

    “Card Readers are unarguably a recipe for monumental national disaster and must be discarded at this point because of the obvious intention to use it to rig elections in favour of APC and the consequent attendant threat to peace and security of the peoples of this country.

    “In what is a classical case of putting the cart before the horse, the National Assembly was deliberately hoodwinked into approving the use of Card Readers days before the test-run that has thrown up inherent weaknesses of the machine. An error margin of three in ten is below the standards of acceptable error in any sphere of human activities and is therefore unacceptable.

    “The 2011 elections may not have been perfect but it remains the only election in Nigeria internationally acclaimed to be free and fair. If we cannot improve on it, there is nothing wrong with staying with the formula that gave us the best elections ever. We call on INEC to immediately revert to the 2011 system with PVCs replacing TVCs.

    “The National Assembly must as a matter of urgent national importance investigate the introduction by INEC of so-called “voting points” as INEC’saction is obviously intended to surreptitiously circumvent National Assembly’s express position on the matter.

    “We believe it is the clandestine way Prof. Jega hopes to achieve his original intention of using them to generate the tie-breaking bank of votes and must not be allowed”.

  • Masari kicks as police probe purchase of PVCs in Katsina

    ALL Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate in Katsina State Alhaji Aminu Masari has condemned the “rampant’’ purchase of Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) by some politicians in the state.

    Masari, who was House of Representatives Speaker between 2003 and 2007, made the allegation yesterday at an interactive session with the people of Ingawa, Kankia and Kusada Local Government Areas in Kankia.

    He said: “The rampant purchase of PVCs by some politicians in Katsina State has become a matter of concern to everybody with progressive ideas.

    ‘’The buying of the PVCs from poor women is an act of wickedness that must be condemned by all political stakeholders.

    ‘’The action of the group of politicians negates all democratic norms in civilised societies as it is designed to disenfranchise the poor women.’’

    He further alleged that members of his APC party caught a serving councilor from Baure Local Government Area with over 20 PVCs.

    He said that the councilor was caught with the PVCs while photocopying them in a business centre, even as he alleged that another woman was also caught buying the PVCs in Danja Local Government Area of the state.

    According to Masari, another person was caught at Mashi Local Government Area while purchasing the PVCs from youths and women.

    ‘’Our party officials have handed over all the suspects to the police for action so as to serve as a deterrent to others,” he said.

    He advised all eligible voters to desist from selling their PVCs to the politicians, stressing that such steps will prevent them the right to vote in the right candidate during the polls.

    When contacted, the State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) Aminu Sadiq, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), confirmed the incident and said that the command has initiated an investigation into the matter.

  • ‘Policemen’ seize PVCs from owners

    ‘Policemen’ seize PVCs from owners

    A swoop on the Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) has begun in Lagos, investigations revealed at the weekend.

    This has created another dimension to the battle over the PVC use for the elections slated for March 28 and April 11.

    While the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) insists on its use, the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is opposed to it.

    This is in spite of the test run at the weekend, of the card reader that will enhance the PVC use.

    A group of people usually dressed in police uniform or sometimes in vests with police inscription, have been found to be collecting PVCs from some people ostensibly with the intention to disenfranchise them.

    The people mostly at the receiving end are commercial motorcyclists aka okada riders, mostly of northern extraction, in the commercial capital.

    What these PVCs collectors do is to pose as policemen enforcing the ban on okada on some major streets. After collecting the motorcycle from the rider by force, they then ask him to bail himself by submitting his PVC, failing which his motorcycle, which is his means of livelihood, would not be released.

    As soon as he releases his PVC, his motorcycle is released to him and his PVC taken away.

    Yesterday, Mohammed Suleiman, one of the few victims who agreed to speak on record – Others are afraid to be quoted for fear of reprisal – said he was arrested at Aguda, Surulere.

    According to him, the men posed as plain clothes policemen and that those arrested were mostly Hausa riders.

    He said: “I’m a victim. I was arrested in Aguda area. They told me to bring my PVC before they would release my ‘machine’ to me. When I gave them my PVC, they collected it and refused to return it but they gave me back my motorcycle.

    “They did not take me to the station but some of our people were taken to the station before the bikes were released to them on collection of their PVCs.” He however did not mention the police station.

    He added: “I think they are aware that many of us carry our PVCs on us and where one cannot produce it on the spot, they ask the person to go and bring it to enable him get back his motorcycle. They arrest us for flimsy reasons – like over speeding or that we ply roads where motorcycles are not permitted.”

    An Arewa youth leader in Lagos, Kabiru Ahmed,told our reporter on telephone last night: “We have received such complaints from some of our members and we are investigating. Anybody found culpable in this will not be spared. We will defend the Hausa community in Lagos. We will stand for our people. No policeman can intimidate us.

    “Collection of PVCs to release okada is a violation of their fundamental human right. We will not allow our people to be intimidated. They will perform their civic responsibility.”

    Lagos Police Spokesman Kenneth Nwosu, a Deputy Superintendent (DSP), denied the involvement of his men in the nefarious act.

    “There is no iota of truth in such claim of our men’s involvement in that kind of act. What is our business with PVC? What will the police do with the PVC?” he queried.

  • ‘INEC distributes 1.7 million PVCs in Bauchi’

    ‘INEC distributes 1.7 million PVCs in Bauchi’

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) said it had distributed more than 1.7 million Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) in Bauchi State, representing 97 per cent of the over 1.8 million received from Abuja.

    This was made known by the commission’s spokesman, Malam Aliyu Abubakar, in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), in Bauchi yesterday.

    He said the bulk of the cards that were yet to be collected, were mostly owned by people who had either died or relocated to other states.

    Abubakar said few of the cards probably belonged to those who were waiting to collect at the last minute.

    A NAN correspondent, who visited the PVC collection centre to monitor last minute rush by registered voters, reports that only few people were at the centre to collect their cards.

  • Don’t sell your PVCs, workers urged

    Don’t sell your PVCs, workers urged

    Stakeholders in the labour sector have cautioned workers to resist the temptation of exchanging their permanent voters’ cards (PVCs) for money from unscrupulous politicians in the country.

    They made the call in Lagos at a one day-interactive session organised by the National Union of Textile, Garment and Tailoring workers of Nigeria (NUTGTWN)  with the Voters Education and Publicity Department of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

    A communiqué signed by the union’s  President, Comrade Dele Hunsu, urged workers and other electorates to make sacrifice and ensure that they comply with the schedule and directive of the electoral officers.

    “Nigerian workers must ensure that they arrive the election venue early as accreditation is expected to commence at 8.00am and close at 1:00pm whilst voting commences at 1:30pm,” he said.

    He said workers should embrace the use of PVC and the card reader and join forces with INEC in forestalling electoral fraud.

    He commended the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for the observed improvement in the PVC distribution leading to over 52 million voters having received their cards.

    On the botched elections of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), which held in Abuja last month, Hunsu urged Nigerian workers to put the ugly development behind them and elect progressive leaders that will work to defend the rights of workers.