Though the hitches experienced in the distribution of Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs) in other states were not very pronounced in Kogi State, the Executive Director, Centre for Human Rights and Conflict Resolution based in Lokoja, Idris Miliki Abdul, has enumerated the shortcomings in the distribution of the cards and the Continuous Voters Registration (CVR) in the state.
As a civil society liaison officer in the state, who was deeply involved in the PVCs distribution, he said there was not enough publicity and the communication strategy itself was ?highly inadequate.
“The jingle and handbills that were produced couldn’t have covered every place if not for the Radio and Television live programme where voters and some of the electorate phoned in and were able to ask questions on the grey areas, which really paid off,” he said.
In that context, the PVCs distribution in Kogi State was successful, adding, however, that there were hitches going by the fact that in some local governments, some persons collected the cards by proxy, contrary to the law.
He indicated that it was also on record that one of the senior officers of the local governments was caught with multiple voter cards, insisting that he did not know what had happened to the case.
“By law, he (suspect) was supposed to be prosecuted and used as a scapegoat to serve as a detriment to others, but we are yet to know the outcome of that particular issue,” he said.
As for the continuous voters registration, Abdul said: “We noticed that the exercise took place only at ward level. There are certain wards that are very big with very high turnout. Some of the equipment could not also function effectively.
“For instance, in Lokoja metropolis, people had to travel all the way from the Barracks to the metropolis, a distance of five kilometres, just to be registered on the Election Day. How would they cope? So, what INEC ought to have done is to move these centres closer to the people.
“We also noticed the fact that there are developments and expansions and citizens live far apart. INEC did not put all these things into consideration.
“For the continuous voters registration, the number of days earmarked was not adequate. There was not enough enlightenment programme.?”
Abdul noted that people, who had relocated, such as the victims of insurgency and extreme violence, and people who had misplaced their temporary voter cards were not adequately catered for.
Pointing out that all the information was not properly captured, which hampered the process, he said there were still many people that were not registered and by virtue of the provisions of the law, there are conditions on the number of days that are meant for registering voters or when the names of registered voters are to be displayed for claims and objections so that voters should not be disenfranchised.
“By and large, it (distribution of PVCs and CVR) was not a total failure neither was it a complete success,” he said. “I think INEC should have learnt from their mistakes.
“Unfortunately for us as Civil Society in Nigeria and here in Kogi State, INEC did not accredit anybody to observe and make comments on both the PVC and the continuous voters’ registration.
“You are conducting an exercise that involves the 36 States and the FCT and you are dealing with millions of Nigerians and yet, you are not encouraging independent monitors and observers to see what you are doing, either rightly or wrongly and to learn from independent reports.”
He said INEC and development partners ought to have accredited civil societies, which would have given their independent reports and send to development agencies and the INEC, to see what they had done rightly or wrongly.
ABDUL also faulted a situation in which people would cover a lot of distance in order to get registered, adding that availability of adequate information was also lacking.
“A lot of people were disenfranchised because of the distances and the number of days that were allocated because there were a lot of information gap,” he said.
He wondered why INEC was not conducting the exercises at the polling unit levels, which the director said was the mistake they made that has become a big challenge for the people.
“There are wards that have up to seven and 10 polling units and mobilising all of them to one particular place to do continuous voter registration was cumbersome,” he said.
He disclosed some of the key information that ought to be available was lacking until he had to go on a live radio programme so that people could phone in and clarifications were made.
“It is not enough to produce jingles because with that, people cannot key in to ask questions,” he said. “We expected INEC to have done it weeks before the registration.
“Unfortunately, the public holiday that was declared by the state was belated because the announcement came the very day when people had already gone to work.
“Banks and the rest had opened before they announced that there was a public holiday. So, the State Government did not help matters.
“The expectation is that the State Government should have announced the public holiday 24 hours before the time so that people could travel to their various local governments where they intended to vote during elections.”
Abdul called on the INEC, the State Government and stakeholders to harmonise their strategies, in a mutual manner, for things to work.
He also observed that in the exercise, “the INEC was becoming so dictatorial not taking the interest of other stakeholders into consideration.”
“They (INEC officials) just come out and spell out what they would do, whether it favours the stakeholders or not,” he said.
“There should have been continuous media engagement and continuous orientation of the people. That awareness would have encouraged people to go to their various local government offices to collect their voter cards.
“Even as at the moment, many people are not aware that they can go to their various local government INEC offices to continue the exercises. Some persons are not even aware there are INEC offices at the local government levels.”
He said people are not hearing anything from the INEC after the exercise over two months ago.
“They should have collaborated with the media to sustain the tempo of sensitisation on the permanent voter cards, for people to go to their local government INEC offices for their cards,” he said.
Nonetheless, Abdul gave the INEC 65 per cent mark in Kogi State for the two major exercises, commending the electoral body for making it possible for Nigerians to use the permanent voter cards for the first time in our history, especially as the PVCs can be used for multiple activities, which is a key aspect.
He advised the commission to do more to ensure the exercise was sustained, and advocated that there should be equipment in place at the local government level for the sustenance of the exercise, especially the continuous voter registration.
Being a national issue of importance, he indicated that there must be independent monitors and observers, who can write independent report for INEC and international community.
But the Kogi State Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Olusegun Agbaje, told newsmen during a stakeholders’ meeting that the commission had distributed 755,777 PVCs out of 1,189, 356 PVCs received in the state, which represents 63.54 per cent.
The REC indicated that 433,579 (36.46%) PVCs were yet to be collected by their owners.
On continuous registration (CVR), he said that 130,602 eligible voters had been registered during the exercise that took place between May 28 and June 3, 2014.
“The commission is presently conducting the transfer of voters to enable registered voters, who are seeking transfers to other polling unit/Ward/LGA/State to do so,” Agbaje said.
“So far, 554 inter-state and 272 intra-state transfer applications had been received and are being treated at present.”
?He said the commission had issued and displayed the notice of election on October 1, 2014 in line with section 30(1) of the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended) in all INEC offices across the country.
He outlined activities of the commission in the coming days to include courtesy calls on relevant agencies, some traditional rulers and religious leaders in Kogi State.
He said the commission would hold stakeholders’ meetings, pasting of voter education posters and distribution of voter education pamphlets and handbills.
Others are the resuscitation of Registration Area Centres (RAC) and publications and presentation of the Voter Registrar to political parties 30 days to the elections.
