BusinessDay 04 Feb 2018

4 BD SUNDAY
C002D5556 Sunday 04 February 2018
Cover
2019: Mass voter turnout likely as
more Nigerians go for PVCs
· It’s reflection of political awareness, disappointment – Korodo
· INEC must prove its independence – Onyeka
· Voters still at mercy of party choices – Omojuwa
JOSHUA BASSEY,
OWEDE AGBAJILEKE, Abuja, & MABEL DIMMA
The deafening calls from various
quarters on Nigerians to seize
the opportunity of the ongoing
continuous voter registration
exercise by the Independent National
Electoral Commission (INEC) to obtain
their permanent voter cards (PVCs) ahead of
the 2019 general elections may be clear signs
of the seriousness with which the Nigerian
electorate see the forthcoming poll.
Pundits say the zeal and enthusiasm
with which Nigerians have responded to
the calls means that there would likely be a
large turnout at the polls next year.
The calls have been unequivocal, on
traditional and social media: get your PVC
and exercise your franchise.
And suddenly, Nigerians seem to have
woken up to their civic responsibility, to the
fact that the hopelessness they feel is caused
by them and that if they want to make a
change concerning who governs them, they
should act by getting their PVCs.
BDSUNDAY visits to a number of registration
points in Lagos last week saw many
Nigerians desperately struggling to get hold
of their PVCs, with many saying they had
left their homes as early as 4.30 am.
It began like a trickle, and then became a
deluge. Even in places of worship, religious
leaders have impressed it upon members of
their congregation that obtaining a PVC was
mandatory, with insinuations that it could
get to the point where members would be
disallowed from entering the place of worship
until they present their voter cards.
To buttress the seriousness of the matter,
a video has gone viral on the Internet, of a
cleric who displayed her PVC to members
of her congregation urging them to vote out
a particular politician and his political party
at the next election.
There is also a particular Nigerian who
revealed on social media that his place of
worship had made arrangements for a bus
shuttle to convey members to their various
registration points every Wednesday to
obtain their PVCs.
Jombo Nnamdi, a political commentator
who spoke with BDSUNDAY, confirmed
that the issue of PVC has been a topic in
his church for the past three weeks in the
nation’s capital.
“We have been inundated with participating
at the ongoing voter registration
exercise and collecting PVC to the extent
that many people in my church who viewed
politics as a dirty game are beginning to have
a change of mind,” Nnamdi said.
Across social media platforms, there is
a trending hashtag, #GetYourPVC, which
aims to raise awareness on collection of
PVC.
But many believe that Oby Ezekwesili,
erstwhile minister of education, may have
been instrumental to raising the awareness
level by popularising the Office of the
Citizen through the #RedCard movement.
“We @RedCardMng shall mobilise
citizens nationwide to use our tools and
become deciders of the quality of leaders
that will govern them well. By the time we
wave the red card, we will raise our PVC.
What we are saying is, ‘My PVC, my redcard’,”
Ezekwesili once said.
Signs of growing awareness, disillusionment
The scramble for PVC by Nigerians, according
to Tokunbo Korodo, former chairman,
Nigerian Union of Petroleum and
Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), Lagos State
Council, is a reflection of the level of political
awareness and desire by the people to effect
true change in 2019.
Speaking to BDSUNDAY in an interview,
Korodo said never in the political history of
Nigeria have the citizens shown the level of
eagerness to be part of the nation’s political
process as they are currently showing.
According to him, millions of Nigerians
across social and political divides have come
to the realisation that they are the possessors
of power to effect positive change within
the political space, hence the growing call
for the citizens to register and secure their
PVCs ahead of 2019.
“I can tell you that Nigerians have widely
opened their eyes now. Gone are the days
when most of the citizens of this country
were seemingly apolitical. Events of the
last two to four years have opened the eyes
of Nigerians to the fact that the power to
effect a change resides with them, and they
can only exercise that with their PVCs.
Anybody who thinks that our votes will
not count is deceiving himself because of
awareness now is very high,” Korodo said.
“When the current government came on
board, there were a lot promises and high
hopes. But most of those promises have not
been fulfilled. The clamour for PVCs is to
pay this government back in its own coin,”
he said.
Chris Onyeka, deputy general secretary,
United Labour Congress (ULC), said Nigerians
have never been so disenchanted,
frustrated and disappointed by a government
which promised hope but delivered
hopelessness and despair.
“Therefore, the clamour for PVC is by
Nigerians who believe that they have had
enough of this frustration,” Onyeka said.
He said the power conferred on the Nigerian
citizens by the constitution could only
be exercised through the ballot box, and to
qualify to exercise that power, the PVC is a
necessary condition each must fulfill.
Beyond this, however, Onyeka said Nigerians
must commit to defending their votes
by monitoring to ensure that election results
are reflective of the votes cast by them.
Japheth Omojuwa, editor, AfricanLiberty.org,
said the rush by Nigerians to get
their PVCs means that there would be a
large turnout at the polls next year.
“From what I have seen, this is not PVC
for having PVC sake; this is about making
their voices count next year,” he said.
Asked why he thinks there is such
serious emphasis on the PVC at this time,
Omojuwa said, “The fault lines are getting
clearer and while there is a pushback from
those who don’t want the incumbent to
return, there’s been a counter-push from
those who want him to.”
He said as crucial as the PVC is, voters
would still be at the mercy of the choices of
party delegates.
“That is where the power is. In the end,
your PVC will not give you the power to
choose ‘the good’ if the party primaries end
up turning out only ‘the worst’ and the ‘the
worse’ in terms of the main candidates,”
he said.
Omojuwa, who was very prominent
and vocal during the 2015 elections that
brought in the present administration, is
also definite that come 2019, people would
still sell their votes. This, according to him,
is because the fundamentals that need to
change for people not to sell their votes have
not changed as poverty remains the norm.
“With this new frenzy to get their PVCs,
are citizens finally aware of the office of the
citizen and its responsibilities? They are and
they have always been really. What they
must now know and push for is representation
at the party level,” Omojuwa said.
“The delegate primary system shortchanges
the Nigerian masses in ways that
we have not started paying attention to. Citizens
are aware but awareness and power
are not the same thing. Power still resides
in the hands of those who determine the
candidates,” he said.
Onus is on INEC
Onyeka of United Labour Congress expressed
concern about the readiness of the
authorities to conduct free and fair polls in
2019. He called on the Independent National
Electoral Commission (INEC) to prove to
Nigerians and the international community
that it is independent of the powers that be,
by ensuring that the votes of the citizenry
truly count.
Meanwhile, analysts have called on INEC
to scale up efforts at ensuring the distribution
of the uncollected PVCs, especially at
this period of Continuous Voter Registration
where over 4 million voters have been
registered, in addition to over 7 million uncollected
PVCs, bringing the total number
to 11 million PVCs.
But INEC said it is not relenting in its
efforts to ensure that all eligible Nigerians
get their PVCs.
With the decentralisation of the collection
of PVCs, the electoral body has instructed
that PVCs be collected at the ward
(registration area) level. It has also opened a
portal on its website, christened ‘PVC Locator
Platform’, which provides a means by
which registered voters can locate and pick
up their cards.
The commission says it is targeting between
80 million and 85 million registered
voters ahead of next year’s elections. The
voter register currently contains 74 million
voters, findings by BDSUNDAY show.
Solomon Soyebi, national commissioner
and chairman, Information and Voter Education
Committee (IVEC), said the continuous
voter registration will be suspended in
December 2018, two months to the February
2019 polls.
This, he said, is in line with the provisions
of the Electoral Act which stipulates that
voter registration should be temporarily
suspended 60 days to the commencement
of the next general election.
The main activities for the CVR include
fresh registration, transfer of voters, and
distribution of PVCs.
“It will be recalled that the Independent
National Electoral Commission (INEC) on
27th April 2017 rolled out the Continuous
Voter Registration (CVR) exercise across
the country. It was intended to afford all
eligible Nigerians, 18 years and above who
did not register in previous exercises the
opportunity to do so at their convenience,”
a statement signed by Soyebi read.
“So far, over 4 million Nigerians have registered
across the country. The Commission
wishes to assure all eligible Nigerians that
the CVR exercise is designed to continue
indefinitely as envisaged by the Electoral
Act 2010 (as amended).
“However, as provided for in Section 9 (5)
of the Electoral Act (as amended), the CVR
will be temporarily suspended 60 days to
the commencement of the next General
Elections scheduled for February 2019. The
exercise will resume after the conclusion of
the elections.
“The Commission hereby encourages all
eligible Nigerians to register at our offices
in all local government headquarters and
other officially designated areas across the
country between 9am and 3pm, Monday
to Friday, excluding public holidays. Full
information about the designated areas
can be obtained from our state offices,” the
statement said.