Hundreds of people on Thursday converged on the Liberty Estate gate, Ibafo, Ogun State, where those yet to collect their permanent voter cards in Ibafo, Obafemi Owode Local Government Area of the state were asked to gather.
Nursing mothers, traders, businessmen and women, commercial motorcyclists otherwise called Okada riders, factory workers, and students stood, while others sat under the scorching sun. Some individuals who got to the PVC collection centre on time were lucky to get a seat under the canopy provided.
Over 500 names had been registered at about 11: 45am in the sheets of paper provided by some individuals for people to write their names as they arrived. People clustered in different groups lamenting the delay, calling on food vendors to sell to them as they were famished, claiming that after today (Thursday), officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission would move to another ward and they might have a tough time getting them to return to their ward. One of them who gave her name only as Miss Blessing said she left her office to quickly collect the card and return only to encounter a different situation.
One of our correspondents who approached a retiree, Gani Eboda, for an interview noticed that he was weary from the wait. His fellow retiree and friend, Adebisi Ogunfowodu, who sat beside him, also appeared tired of waiting without hope of the officials coming to attend to them. The retirees said they were tired of the long wait since 7am, saying, “We have not seen them (INEC officials) since morning. They told us to arrive here by 9am. I should have stayed back at home to eat. What else am I looking for at my age? I just want to carry out my civic right of voting.’’
INEC’s call for PVC collection
INEC had earlier announced that the collection of PVCs would commence on December 12, 2022 and end on January 22, 2023. The commission’s National Commissioner for Information and Voter Education, Festus Okoye, had noted that the exercise would take effect from January 6 and 15, 2023.
He added that the collection of the PVCs would be devolved to the ward level after which collection would be moved to the local government areas.
It was earlier reported that the INEC Director of Voter Education in Lagos State, Mrs Adenike Tadeshe, said that about 14,000 people collected their voter cards daily, noting that as of December 29, 2022, about 5,816,528 PVCs had been issued out. She added that by January 15 and 16, 2023, the cards would have been taken to all the 245 wards in the state and the local government areas.
Also, in an advertorial by the International Press Centre on Wednesday, funded by the European Union, Nigerians were urged to collect their PVCs.#
The commission, however, on Thursday extended the deadline for PVC collection until Sunday, January 29, 2023.
Strain of PVC collection
Sitting over a slab beside a gutter at the venue, a nursing mother with a group of other women lamented the stress of waiting unend to collect their PVC.
She said, “My child is only 30 days old and not yet 41 days old. Ordinarily, I should not be out here with my baby but I need to get my PVC. I got here 9am and no one has attended to us. I will leave by noon because my baby is no longer comfortable. There is a lot of dust here which is not healthy for the baby. I tried to get a place to shield my baby from the sun but there is none and I am not able to get a seat under the canopy. This is how the government does. We were told to come all the way from our houses at Ereko and we spent N500 on bikes leaving our businesses.
“We couldn’t eat before leaving so as to quickly get the card and return home. Later there will be announcements on the radio that people are not turning up to collect their voter cards. Why is there always a hitch with getting government documents? Look at what we are facing to get the card, how will it be when it’s time to vote? We are discouraged already and don’t even know if they will eventually come but we are keeping our fingers crossed.”
A real estate agent, Alhaji Salawu Abdulateef, said the delay and tussle experienced with the voter cards collection was appalling, stating that timing was key in everything. He stated that the information he got from the Community Development Authority chairman was that collection of PVC would start from 9am to 5pm, adding that painfully, they had yet to see any of the INEC officers from the local government.
He said that with the crowd at the venue, if the commission’s officials got there on time, they would be able to give out the cards before 5pm.
Abdulateef told Saturday PUNCH that, “This is uncalled for. We came here to get the cards so as to perform our civic responsibility but we are still waiting. If they get here by 2pm, for instance, they will tell us they have only two hours to attend to everyone. Look at the elderly people waiting, we have places to go to and things to do.
“The INEC officials should be reasonable and compassionate with us. Sitting here for the whole day without achieving anything is not an ideal situation. The job has been delegated to some set of officials but we have yet to see any of them. Men and women of calibre who have businesses to attend to are here waiting. This is not ideal. I wish Nigeria can get better.”
He added that a schedule was given for the collection and the officials would move to another area/ward the next day, indicating that they had planned for the exercise. He further said the problem wasn’t a government issue but one bordering on inefficiency of some persons, urging INEC to set up a monitoring unit for each ward.
A factory worker, Samson Lawal, told one of our correspondents that the process of PVC collection was poor even at the INEC office in Owode.
He said, “My friend went to Owode on Thursday last week and was there for hours but couldn’t get his PVC. I have been here since 9am. A woman told me that her son had been here since 7am. Look at the people here. Some of my friends hurriedly left the factory to collect their PVCs but we nothing appears to be happening since noon.’’
Some other persons who spoke to Saturday PUNCH said the organisation for the PVC collection was poor. Two traders, Mrs Ramota Ogunsanya and Mrs Abosede Raji, said they were prompted to come to the venue following radio announcements after several visits to Owode without any headway.
Raji stated that they had been standing under the sun without hope of collection, adding, “These people from about four CDAs gathered here to collect their PVCs but we have yet to see the officials. What would we use to vote if we are not given the voter cards? They want to deprive us of our power and right to vote. Those of us that did a transfer from one place to another have not been given our cards yet. We would come in the morning and wait till evening but no one would attend to us.”
Registered voters in endless wait
One of our correspondents who visited some collection centres in Lagos State was told by some of the eligible voters that while some eventually got their PVCs, others left the centres empty-handed.
One of the centres is at Agbado-Ijaiye Primary School, Clem Road, Ayanwale in the Ifako-Ijaiye Local government Area of Lagos State.
A cleric, Raymond Adejimi, complained that the process was a tiring one as he visited five different centres before he eventually got his PVC. He explained that the problem started when he relocated to his permanent site after which he applied for a transfer of his PVC.
He said, “At least today I saw two or three of them and there are so many.”
Another resident, Ismaila Odeyemi, stated that he was unable to do a transfer of his PVC from his previous ward to another ward.
Odeyemi was hopeful when he applied for a transfer of his PVC to his present ward from the previous one, but unsure of voting in the forthcoming election because he was told that the transfer was not successful.
He stated that he applied for a transfer from Polling Unit 33 to 72 in Ifako-Ijaiye LGA on INEC’s website and received a notification showing that the application was successful.
He said, “It should rather be a walk in and collect process but one has to stay for some time before it can be obtained. There are lots of complaints concerning transfer of PVCs due to relocation.’’
Oluwadamilare and Raliat Kazeem are siblings who registered for their voter cards same day on July 2022 at INEC office located at Bamgbose Street, Arigbanla in the Ifako-Ijaiye LGA of Lagos State but it took them six months before they could collect the cards.
One of them said, “From the beginning of the process, it was really rough.’’
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