TheCable

A coalition of civil society organisations (CSOs) has asked the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to extend the deadline for the collection of permanent voter cards (PVC) in Lagos state.

The coalition included EIE Nigeria, Fix Politics, Women Advocates and Research Development Centre (WARDC), ConnectHub, CivicHive, and Community Life Project (CLP).

INEC stopped the collection of PVCs on February 5 after extending the deadline twice.

The CSOs in a joint statement said the commission is depriving Lagosians of their right to participate in the electoral process.

They cited lapses such as the late arrival of PVCs, the absence of standard operating procedures (SOPs) for PVC collection, collection by proxy, and underutilisation of CSOs and volunteers.

The statement said a large number of registered voters turned up to collect their PVCs with their registration slips but were told their cards were “not found” or were “omitted”.

It stated that despite several trips to INEC offices and assurances by the commission, these voters could not get their cards.

“We demand that INEC extend PVC collection in Lagos to Sunday, February 12, 2023 as voters should not be penalised for INEC’s administrative lapses,” the statement reads.

On Monday, February 6^th, EiE sent 845 text messages to Lagosians who had submitted complaints on its RSVP Portal and as of the morning of Wednesday, February 8^th, in barely 48 hours, 163 people had responded that they are in INEC’s Voters’ Register, but they were denied their PVCs.

“There is precedent for this extension as in 2014, while PVC Collection was stopped across the country, it was extended in Lagos because INEC Lagos took responsibility for its shortcomings. In the words of Mr Adekunle Ogunmola, the Lagos REC at the time, “This delay was not caused by the people, it was caused by INEC.”

“INEC has the information of the owners of the cards that are still in its possession and this must be made public. It is only fair that INEC takes responsibility for ensuring citizens who had made spirited efforts to collect their PVCs can collect them and vote. We offer to work with INEC to have adequate volunteers and security to arrange the cards and attend to citizens that show up to pick up their cards. 

“INEC and its partner CSOs worked hard to ensure that citizens came out to register to vote and engage in the electoral process. In all its communication, INEC said that it would print cards for all registered voters so they could vote. Therefore, it would not only be unfair, but also illegal to then deliberately deny any duly registered voter the opportunity to vote.”