Organisation, has accused the
Independent National Electoral
Commission (INEC)
, of poor
handling of distribution of the
Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) to
eligible voters.
Femi Fani-Kayode, Director of Media
and Publicity of the organisation,
made the accusation at a news
conference in Abuja on
Wednesday.
He alleged that the INEC Chairman,
Attahiru Jega , may be working in
collaboration with some members
of the opposition to favour the All
Progressives Congress (APC).
“The matter is that INEC has failed
in its responsibility to produce and
distribute PVCs to about 34% of
registered voters who would require
the cards to vote in the elections.
This brings us to the issue of
statistics of PVC distribution and
collection, which we believe Prof.
Jega, as a person, acting in concert
with some forces of retrogression, is
playing games with.
We express our concerns today that
Jega may have decided to aid the
APC to rig the forthcoming elections
through the manipulation of the
production, distribution and
collection of PVCs,” he said.
According to Fani-Kayode,
emerging trends had shown
calculated attempts to deprive parts
of the country that would vote for
President Goodluck Jonathan , of
their PVCs.
He said that parts of the country
that would vote for the APC
presidential candidate, Gen.
Muhammadu Buhari , already have
their PVCs.
Fanyi-Kayode described as
unjustifiable, attacks on the PDP,
on the postponement of the
scheduled Feb. 14 and 28 general
elections to March 28 and April 11
by the INEC.
According to him, the INEC
chairman hinged the postponement
on the security advice given by the
National Security Adviser with
respect to the Boko Haram
insurgency in the North-East.
He said Jega deliberately failed to
tell Nigerians the whole truth that
underpinned the postponement.
This, he added, provided the
opposition APC a platform to
accuse the PDP of complicity in the
decision to postpone the elections.
He stressed that the decision to
postpone the elections was INEC’s,
since it was constitutionally saddled
with that responsibility.
“The commission has done just that
and it had hinted that it was having
challenges with the distribution and
collection of the PVCs.
He stressed that the PDP had
realised “ how Jega dishonestly
presented the reasons for the
postponement of the elections.’’
According to Fani-Kayode, the
major reason that informed INEC’s
decision “was the deliberate
attempt by the commission to
disenfranchise over 23 million
eligible voters who are yet to collect
their PVCs.’’
He alleged that the collection rates
of PVCs in the North Central, South-
South, South West and South East
regions assumed to be pro-
Jonathan, were much lower with
the highest being 57%.
He noted that the North West zone
which includes Katsina, the home
state of Buhari, APC presidential
candidate, had the highest
collection rate of 80 per cent.
He also claimed that the North-East
had a 75% collection rate when the
three states in this zone, Adamawa,
Borno and Yobe, had been under
the attack of Boko Haram
insurgents.
This insurgency, Fani-Kayode
noted, had led to the displacement
of many residents in the zone.
“Pieces of information at our
disposal have shown that Jega has
had meetings with APC stalwarts in
Dubai and other cities in the world
to perfect this wanton conspiracy
against 23 million eligible voters.
Besides, we have information that
the PVCs that Nigerians are
scrambling for are not in Nigeria
and will not arrive before the
elections.
These PVCs are still in China and
Prof. Jega has strategically delayed
their arrival to suit his
electioneering permutations’’, he
said.
He challenged Jega to show
Nigerians proof that the Chinese
company printing the PVCs had
been paid in full by disclosing the
total contract sum and the amount
paid till date.
He also charged him to show proof
of arrival or expected date of
arrival of all PVCs for the elections
and tell Nigerians how he could
have distributed 23 million PVCs
within five days to elections, if not
postponed.
“We hereby challenge Jega to be
honourable and transparent to
publish accurate information on the
state of PVCs and how he plans to
distribute them before elections.
He should respond to allegations of
partisanship and ineptitude, and live
up to his responsibilities as an
independent election umpire. If he
refuses to do so, we may end up
losing confidence in him’’, Fani-
Kayode said
