In spite of the claims by the
electoral umpire, INEC, that it has
recorded complete success in the
distribution of the Permanent Voters
cards (PVCs) in the three volatile
north-eastern states in Nigeria, the
case is different. Kareem Haruna
Maiduguri and Mohammed Isma’l,
Yola write
Against the claims of the
Independent National Electoral
Commission (INEC) that it has
achieved close to hundred percent
in the contentious distribution of
Permanent Voters Cards (PVC),
especially in the volatile northeast
Nigerian states, findings by
LEADERSHIP Sunday recently have
picked holes in such claims.
In Borno and Yobe states, where the
INEC said it has achieved between
70 to 80 percent of the entire
distribution of PVCs, hundreds of
prospective voters still lay claim to
the fact that they have not been
issued their PVCs. In some cases,
officials of INEC, who are taking part
in the distribution of the PVC, had
admitted that many of the cards still
lay in their custody unclaimed.
In the two states, there also were
disturbing cases of either theft of
PVCs or cases of some persons
collecting them on behalf of others
without due authorisation.
When LEADERSHIP Sunday conducted
a check around Maiduguri the Borno
State capital where for now, about
65 percent of the state’s voters are
not likely to cast their votes due to
the influx of internally displaced
persons (IDPs), it was discovered
that INEC may have exaggerated its
claims because thousands of voters
are still lamenting the ugly tales of
not being told when their cards
would be made available to them.
One thing that was very instructive
about the lack of PVCs in Maiduguri
Metropolitan Council (MMC) was the
case of Maisandari ward which is
unarguably one of the largest in
Nigeria. Those who know the state
very well would attest to the fact
that Maisandari ward, which is larger
than some local government areas in
the state, has been the decider of
most elections in the state.
Our reporter was informed by various
aggrieved would-be voters in this
massive electoral ward that more
than half of them have not obtained
their PVCs.
Abba Shehu, a private security
officer and resident of Maisandari
alleged that out of the about 140
polling units that made up the
ward, only about nine units had
some of their PVCs brought to them.
“There is anger in Maisandari and if
care is not taken, no voting will take
place here if INEC fails to provide us
with our PVCs”, said Shehu, who
revealed that voters are already
mobilising themselves for a mass
protest over the problem.
“I am from Maisandari ward and my
polling unit is the Lagos House
polling unit, and I can tell you that
no single person in this unit has
collected his PVC; in fact no single
INEC official has come to tell us
when it will come; the only thing we
kept hearing if some of us go to
their office, is that they would soon
arrive Maiduguri from Abuja. We will
not take the laws into our hands,
but we will make sure we go to court
and stop any process that threatens
to disenfranchise us. We cannot sit
down and just watch being denied
opportunity to elect those whom we
want to represent us”.
Yahaya Garba, an automobile
mechanic, who said he had
registered at Lawan Jidda polling
unit in Ngomari street of Maisandari
ward, had also decried not being
given his PVC after days of visit to
the polling unit.
“All of us that have registered at
Lawan Jidda polling centre are yet to
be given our PVCs; each time we go
to the Bulama’s house to enquire, no
one tells you why ours are not
provided, but we kept hearing news
in the media that the PVC have been
brought and made available. We
hope some one somewhere is not
playing pranks with our cards”, he
said.
Mallam Muhammed Abbas Gava, an
official of the Vigilante Group of
Nigeria, and one of the local
coordinators for the collection of
PVCs in Moduganari street under
Maisandari ward also confirmed to
LEADERSHIP Sunday saying: “Out of
the over 100 polling units that exists
in our Ward, only nine (9) units have
so far received their PVC. My unit
name is Bulama Bukar and none of
us have gotten anything; we really
don’t know what is going on”.
Gava also confirmed that, “Even in
Shuwari/Moduganari, which is made
up of 25 polling units, only one unit
got theirs, which is Moduganari
maternity clinic unit; all the
remaining 24 units are yet to take
delivery of their PVCs”.
A local fish trader, Idi Idrissa, of
Bolori- Ward in Maiduguri said
though he had obtained his PVC
when the distribution commenced in
December last year, most of those
who didn’t get theirs then are still
waiting upon INEC.
“The first and last time we saw INEC
officials coming to distribute PVCs to
us was when the exercise
commenced in December last year;
then, I and some few registered
voters in Bulama Burtella polling
unit under Bolori-2 were able to
struggle to get ours; and when the
cards got finished, all those who
didn’t get theirs have not been told
when theirs would be brought to
them. The situation has since been
a source of worry to most of us”, said
Idrissa.
Most of the prospective registered
voters in Maisandari have began to
doubt the claims of INEC that it has
distributed over 80 percent of the
PVC requirement for the state. Some
of the residents are wondering how
that could be achieved within a very
short time and under the
circumstances in which the state
finds its self presently.
Many of them have argued that it
couldn’t have been possible to
accept the figure being peddled by
INEC on the distribution of the
PVCs. According to them, the
ongoing Boko Haram insurgency in
Borno State had claimed well over
2000 people. And on the average,
most of those that may have been
killed are of the voting age; and if
PVCs were to be distributed, most of
those that got killed may never come
up to collect any card from INEC; so
it means hundreds of such cards
belonging to those that have died as
a result of the insurgency should be
at the custody of the INEC. And if
INEC insists such PVCs belonging to
those that had died are no longer in
their custody, citizens would want to
be informed on who came to collect
them posthumously.
“Besides that, we know thousands of
people have been forced to flee
Maiduguri and other parts of Borno
State due to the ongoing Boko
Haram conflict; such persons would
not come back to collect their PVCs;
so how did INEC come about its
percentage figure?”, asked a
Muhammed Uba, a resident of
Maiduguri.
It could be recalled that last week,
INEC in the state had, upon several
protests by concerned residents, who
were worried that they could be
disenfranchised by not having their
PVCs, promised that it was expecting
some PVCs any time soon.
The public affairs officer of INEC in
Borno, Mr Tommy Magbuin, was
quoted in the media saying, “It is
true that we have not been able to
distribute PVCs to some units in the
state; this is mainly due to non
arrival of the cards from Abuja. As I
speak to you now, our drivers are
already waiting in Abuja to collect
the PVCs for onwards delivery to
Borno”, he stated.
As at last week, he said Borno State
INEC was expecting about 550, 230
PVCs from Abuja. Out of this 220,
906 are for voters who registered in
2011, while the balance is for those
captured during the Continos Voters
Registration (CVR).
The INEC spokesman gave assurances
that by last week all registered
voters will receive their PVCs, “But
his assurances seemed to have
failed”, said a source.
While prospective voters in Borno
State continued to lament over non-
provision of PVCs to them, the case
seemed different in Yobe State,
where registered voters, who
leveraged on the two day public
holiday declared by the state
government for obtaining their PVCs,
were being told at the polling units
that some persons had collected on
their behalf.
A resident of Damaturu, the state
capital, Musa Umar, said: “We are
being faced with reported cases of
PVC theft by suspected politicians
who would turn up at various polling
units with claims that some of their
friends and relatives had asked them
to collect their PVCs in proxy. And
the normal procedure is that the
issuing officer would ask the
representative to put down his or
her phone number, should the need
to call him or her arises. But many
cases have been reported when real
owners turned up and such phone
numbers that were given never go
through.
“The issue is so prevalent now
because some people are leveraging
on the fact that many people had
fled the state or may have even died
one way or the other, so they would
come up with arguments that they
would want to collect it for them
even without tendering a copy of
their temporary voters card (TVC).
Adamawa State appeared to be the
only state amongst the three volatile
states of the north-east where the
issue of distributing the PVC seemed
a little bit mild as records provided
by INEC indicated that 79 percent
PVCs have so far been distributed
across the 21 local government areas
of the state.
A document which shows the
distribution of PVC’s by INEC in the
state indicated that out of the
1,529,636 registered voters in the
state, 1,208,999 have so far collected
their PVC’s.
The distribution shows that the
insurgency-ravaged local
governments of Madagali and
Michika whose inhabitants are
mainly taken refuge in Yola have
recorded high collection of PVC’s. It
indicated that Madagali and Michika
IDP’s, whose voting centres have
been designated in Yola, have
collected 86 and 80 percentages
respectively.
Similarly, other local governments
that were affected by the insurgency
have recorded high collection of
PVC’s. The chart indicate; Gombi 92
percent, Hong, 85 percent, Maiha 72
percent, Mubi South 57 percent, with
Mubi North recording the lowest
collection of 47 percent.
The distribution of the PVC’s across
the state indicated that Yola South
recorded 79 percent, Yola North 72
percent, Toungo 89 percent, Song 91
percent, Shelleng 86 percent, Mayo
Belwa 89 percent, Lamurde 88
percent, Jada 86 percent, Guyuk 87
percent, Girei 82 perent Ganye 80
percent, Fufore 80 percent and
Demsa 86 percent collection of PVC’s.
Although some people interviewed in
the state said they were yet to
collect their PVC’s as a result of
some hitches, many prospective
voters in the state have, however,
said they have collected theirs and
are waiting for the polling date.
www.leadership.ng/news/411878/controversy-trails-inecs-claims-on-pvc-distribution-in-borno-yobe-and-adamawa

..i think Maiduguri is now d heart beat of Naija, Prof Jega, pls attend to people dia as ur boys refused to report at d BH state capital. Thanks, Prof. We are waiting.

D gospel truth remains, Inec waz not ready for feb 14 general election, thank God for D postponment. Jega is begining to hav credibility issue.

can't believe this is the same Jega we had in 2011.
Man's lost it completely.
Anyways, all I want is the election...

I see the hands of Nigerian Politicians at work. Thank God for this investigation conducted by the Leadership newspaper. Prof Jega should investigate the issues raised in this report urgently. As a former VC of Unimaid, he should have contacts to verify this report.

bizlifelines:
I see the hands of Nigerian Politicians at work. Thank God for this investigation conducted by the Leadership newspaper. Prof Jega should investigate the issues raised in this report urgently. As a former VC of Unimaid, he should have contacts to verify this report.

Your quite on point.

baybeeboi:
can't believe this is the same Jega we had in 2011.
Man's lost it completely.
Anyways, all I want is the election...

I doubt if the elections this time will be as credible as others before with the current state of affairs from the stables of the umpire, INEc.

baybeeboi:
can't believe this is the same Jega we had in 2011.
Man's lost it completely.
Anyways, all I want is the election...

I doubt if the elections this time will be as credible as others before with the current state of affairs from the stables of the umpire, INEC.

Remove Jega.

The PVCs are in the hands of their APC-inclined village & district heads.

Thank you

Bayswater:
The PVCs are in the hands of their APC-inclined village & district heads.

Thank you

but how can they verify such PVCs on day of election bearing in mind Jega and INEC insisted that card readers and thumb-print will be used to clear eligible voters?

chibecan:
but how can they verify such PVCs on day of election bearing in mind Jega and INEC insisted that card readers and thumb-print will be used to clear eligible voters?

Prof. Jiga has been compromised!

tit:


Prof. Jiga has been compromised!

How do you mean?