Getting Permanent Voter Card (PVC) is not enough.

Voter card is important. Encouraging people to get PVCs is very important. But giving proper orientation to those who already have PVCs is more important. Voter card cannot solve the problem in Nigerian elections. The choice voters make is the problem. If only ten persons have PVCs and the majority (at least six) of the ten persons votes wisely, good leaders will emerge. If 100 billion persons collect PVCs and majority of them votes foolishly, bad leaders will emerge. “Get your PVCs” is the only piece of advice trending. Why are we not talking about the tribal, religious and nepotic factors that have always jeopardized our political progress?

When a wrong ideology dominates the society, increase in the number of PVC holders can only result in more votes for the wrong candidates. A situation in which electorates’ choices of candidates are always based on tribalism and nepotism, how can PVCs guarantee good governance for the country? Number of PVC holders only favours tribalism and nepotism. It does not influence voters’ choice of candidates in elections. And tribalism is not good in politics. A good leader is good to all tribes. A bad leader is bad to even his own tribe. If electorates vote wisely, a good candidate will win and treat everybody well not minding how many votes he got from other tribes. If electorates vote foolishly, a bad candidate will win and treat everybody (including his own tribe) bad even if most of his votes came from his own tribe. Jonathan and Bubu are proofs.

Each tribe is clamouring for PVCs just to possibly make its son the president. Igbo people are shouting PVCs hoping it will make Obi win. Yoruba people are shouting the same thing to give victory to either Tinubu or Osinbajo. Northerners are doing their own thing to make a northerner the next president. Some analysts say Obi is the best candidate. But only few persons from the South and the North are drumming support for him. Most of his supporters are Igbo people. We are in a world where majority of youths abandon their own brains and rely on the brains of social-media influencers. How many social-media influencers of Yoruba and Hausa origins have aired support for Obi? This means majority of northern and southern youths who have PVCs will likely vote against him. Can votes from Igbo people alone outnumber the votes from the North and the South? Remember how majority of Igbo people chose Atiku but the votes from the North and the South worked against the same Atiku. Do you now understand why and how voters' choice is more consequential than voters' population?

Also, what about the perennial constraint to free-and-fair elections in Nigeria? Having PVC cannot help Nigeria when electorates do not have the safety to exercise their franchise. A situation where armed deadly thugs disrupt elections, how can “Get Your PVCs” save the nation?

Rigging and prejudice are other problems bigger than low number of voters. Whether 2019 national election victory was by legitimate votes or by illegitimate votes is still an unanswered question. Between those who misused their PVCs and those who had no PVC to vote, who are responsible for 2019 election result? Also, what about the case in Imo State where someone who came 3rd or 4th in an election later became the governor? In the Imo case, the figure used in court does not correspond to the figure provided by INEC. Is low number of voters responsible for that? How is getting PVCs the major problem?

I do not discourage people from getting PVCs. I myself have my own PVC. But as we encourage people to get PVCs, let us not ignore other things that deserve our attention.

I think delegates are the main problem.

YeyeGbami:
I think delegates are the main problem.

Delegates are not the major problems. Electorates who vote because of political party are the problem. Not every party's delegates field in a corrupt candidate. If the delegates of a popular party choose a wrong candidate, the electorates (voters) should ignore the party and vote for the good candidate of a less-popular party.

No pvc no sex