The Labour Party has expressed concern over the Independent National Electoral Commission’s tardy issuance of Permanent Voter Cards ahead of the February 25 presidential election.
The party is adamant that Nigerians receive PVCs from the electoral body as soon as possible so they can participate in the upcoming general elections.
Dr. Yunusa Tanko, the principal spokesperson for the Labour Party Presidential Campaign Committee, brought up the issue on Wednesday during a briefing for the media in Enugu State.
He raised concern that INEC appeared careless about the deadline and that the electoral authority had less than two weeks to supply the PVCs.
He wondered how INEC would be able to meet up with the deadline to ensure that Nigerians got their PVCs within the stipulated period.
“INEC has less than two weeks to deliver PVCs to Nigerians and the reports we are receiving nationwide about the ineptitude of its staff are disheartening and frustrating most PVC collectors.
“We have received reports from all the geopolitical zones in Nigeria and the messages are all the same, people complaining of the snail pace at which the PVCs are being distributed,“ Tanko said.
He said people had less than two weeks to collect their PVCs.
2019: INEC COMMENCES DISTRIBUTION OF PVC IN ANAMBRA WEST
“People go and queue for hours to collect their PVCs and out of about 500 on the line, fewer than 20 of them are able to collect theirs.
“What kind of miracle is INEC going to perform that will ensure Nigerians get their PVCs within this short period if there’s no sinister motive underneath,” the Labour PCC spokesman said.
He noted that though the process for the collection of the PVCs started on Dec.12 and was expected to end on Jan. 22, many potential voters were complaining that the process was cumbersome.
“We have said it in different fora that on no account should any Nigerian be denied his inalienable right to cast his ballot,” he said.
Tanko urged INEC to take action on what he described as “deliberately designed weak operations“ so as not to create the impression that it has a “hidden script unknown to the public“.
NAN
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