The recent postponement of the 2015 general elections might have been fortuitous for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), which before then was facing enormous challenges over the distribution of the permanent voter cards (PVCs). So serious was the situation that as at last Saturday announcement, only 48,098,000 out of 68,833,476 PVCs were distributed. This was even made possible by three extensions of collection deadline time between August 2014 and February 2015.
The INEC has underscored the significance of the postponed polls when it again extended the deadline for the collection of the PVCs across the country till March 8, 20 days to the date fixed for the presidential and National Assembly elections. This newspaper urges nation’s apex electoral body to get it right this time around. Nigerians, and indeed the international community, would not accept any further excuses for another shoddy job of an important assignment needed to give credibility to the upcoming general elections.
It will be an exercise in denial for the Professor Attahiru Jega-led Commission to feel it has a perfect template in place for the distribution of the PVCs. The Commission faces obvious challenges, some of which are the poor attitude to work exhibited by its staff and unreliability of the biometric capturing machines deployed by it. Its Deputy Director of Public Affairs, Mr. Nick Dazang, said this as much at a recent workshop for journalists in Kaduna. According to him, the negligence of INEC staff in capturing registrants in 2011 and the inability of the machines to accept some fingerprints led to the delay in issuing PVC’s to many Nigerians. The situation, he elaborated, “resulted in loss of data of even some high profile Nigerians including Sultan of Sokoto Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar and Lagos Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola.” He, however, disclosed that the continuous voters registration done last year had taken care of such problems.
One question needing an answer is what happens to some Nigerians who missed the continuous voters registration conducted last? Another is what about the reported cases of stolen PVCs in Borno and Delta states, a development that led to the dismissal of two of its officers in Delta State? The replacement of those PVCs must be accomplished before the deadline of March 8, if the Commission must be taken seriously.
We must also not fail to point out the hardship many Nigerians currently face in collecting the PVCs. Some of the measures put in place are not helping the situation, and this is because of the subversive activities of some of the ad hoc staff deployed for the exercise. It is a common knowledge in Lagos State, for example, that some of these staff ask for cash before searching for and giving out the PVCs to demanding registrants. It is also an acknowledged fact that many people have lost interest in the exercise because of the time taken to wait and get the PVCs. The reason for this is the long queues at many of the collection centres. Perhaps, the decentralization option, which many discerning Nigerians have suggested, should be tried.
Another fundamental issue awaiting resolution is the allegation by Lagos State government that 1, 447, 845 voters disappeared from the state’s voters’ register between 2011 and 2014, which Governor Babatunde described as “strange”. Though INEC admitted the drop, and explained that it occurred after the data for the state were subjected to the Automated Fingerprints Identification System (AFIS), the explanation was contested by Mr. Adeyinka Jeje, Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Independent Electoral Commission, who deposed that INEC’s delisting of registered voters amounted to their unconstitutional disenfranchisement. According to him, INEC had no such power, but could only prosecute those involved in double registration. Mr. Jeje advised the apex electoral body to allow the use of the 2011 temporary voter cards during the upcoming general elections if it did not want to contend with litany of litigations from disenfranchised Nigerians.
From the foregoing, it has become apparent that the extension needed to be put to very good use by INEC. In addition to addressing the Commission’s numerous surmountable challenges, it should retrain its staff and ad-hoc personnel that will be involved in the elections for enhanced performance. Like we wrote in the editorial of February 3, 2015 edition of this newspaper, “the coming general elections are crucial for peace and stability of our country…The success of the elections depend on how serious or strategic INEC takes its assignment.”
