….Says millions of Nigerians may be
disenfranchised
….Condemns religious colouration of
campaigns
By Ben Agande
Abuja — The Sultan of Sokoto, His
Eminence Sa’ad Abubakar III, has
expressed fears that unless something was
done urgently, millions of Nigerians,
including himself, would be disenfranchised
as they were not able to collect their
Permanent Voters’ Cards, PVCs.
Abubakar spoke in Sokoto when he
received President Goodluck Jonathna, who
was in the state for a political rally in his
palace.
He asked Jonathan to ensure that the
Independent National Electoral Commission,
INEC, provides all
eligible voters with their cards before the
elections as well as ensure that
government takes steps to respect the
people’s wishes by delivering credible, free
and fair elections.
He said: “Let’s respect people’s wishes;
let’s not try to disenfranchise anybody. We
have had issues of the PVCs and I want to
tell you that even myself, I don’t have a
PVC, so it means I will not vote on
February 14.
“So, we have to look for a way out. It is
for your government to now look for what
to do; how to ensure that all the cards get
to the voters before the voting day or in
the alternative, find a way out because in
any problem there is a solution and we
believe you will find solutions as regard
this very serious hitch facing us because
millions of Nigerians seem to be heading
towards disenfranchisement and they
won’t be able to vote but I have heard
comments from the INEC Chairman. We are
still waiting for our cards to come.”
The Sultan said the difficulties in obtaining
the PVC was one of the challenges
bothering him and other leaders as it
appeared millions of Nigerians would be
disenfranchised during this year’s general
elections.
Condemns religious colouration of
campaigns
The Muslim leader condemned the religious
colouration being given to this year’s
campaigns and called on politicians to
rather focus on issues.
He noted that because of the country’s
diversity, it was not “possible” for elections
in Nigeria to be all about religion.
Sultan said: “They will come to seek the
votes of the common man … but they will
not see you again for four years but we
have the privilege of seeing you everyday
and maybe every time and we always
express to you the problems of our
people.”
Tasks politicians on Abuja peace accord
He challenged all politicians to not only
abide by the Abuja Peace Accord between
President Jonathan and the candidate of
the All Progressives Congress, APC, General
Muhammadu Buhari and 12 others, but
also ensure that their various supporters at
all levels get the message and behave
accordingly.
He further decried the prevailing insecurity
in the country and urged the president to
stop it by ensuring that Nigerians once
again, enjoy peace.
He said: “As the leader of the Muslims in
this country, I will not fail to intimate the
President and his government with the
problems Muslims face in this country, that
is our own area of attention as Muslim
leaders. We care about how we live as a
people and we are very worried about how
we are living now as a people and God
Almighty who placed leadership of the
country on your shoulders, we feel we
must always alert you on how we have
been living.
“As such time now and I will say never a
time in this country’s history that we faced
very serious challenges like what are
facing now. The whole politicking had been
turned into either religion of ethnic matters
and this should not be so because we see
what happens across the world.
“We are worried because religion had been
brought into it, we made it very clear in
2011, there is no way religion should be an
issue in the election campaigns or even the
election itself.
“As you have seen here, I think there are
more Muslims in this room than Christians
and coming here now to come for prayers
for success of your campaigns goes to
show that as the leader of the Muslims, I
have no choice than to pray for you.
Issues that should face political leaders
“Therefore, the insecurity issues facing us
in all parts of country, we have heard
campaign promises left, right and centre
but we want to hear from our political
leaders, how do you intend to resolve the
security issues; how do you intend to
tackle unemployment, how do you intend
to tackle the rot in education?
“These are issues that should face the
various political leaders instead of
mudslinging, calling each other names and
whatever. We are very worried about what
we read in newspapers, watch on
television and the comments we hear from
our people, brothers and friends. Politics of
this country has now been turned into a
war, families are being divided, friends
have become enemies just because of
seeking for political office.”
Advises journalists
The Muslim leader urged Nigerian
journalists not to compound the already
worsening security situation in the country
by re-publishing the offensive French
magazine cartoons of Prophet Muhammad.
While condemning the killing of the
journalists who first published the cartoons
and the reprisal killings and violence that
followed in some other countries, Abubakar
urged Nigerians not to let negative
influences of the Western world cause
disruption of peace in Nigeria.
He wished the Jonathan campaign team
well in their endeavours as he prayed for
peaceful and fair elections.
Jonathan
assures Sultan
Jonathan had told the Sultan earlier that
he was in the palace to formerly introduce
himself and his vice as candidates in the
2015 general elections.
He assured the Sultan that the PDP-led
government under his leadership was
committed to transforming the country,
noting that various interventions in
agriculture and the education sector such
as the the Almajeri programme were
geared towards speedy economic growth.
source: www.vanguardngr.com/2015/01/dont-pvc-sultan-cries/

GEJ till 2019!!!

He's among millions of nigerians who are going to be deprived to vote their choice candidates nxt month. Am nt going to vote either.

Like many other millions of eligible Nigerian voters out there, no PVC. Is this not part of rigging