The National Chairman of the African Democratic Congress, Chief Ralph Nwosu, has called on the Independent National Electoral Commission to allow Nigerians to continue to register for the Permanent Voter’s Cards up to 60 days to the election as stipulated by the Electoral Act, saying no Nigerian should be disenfranchised.
Nwosu also expressed regrets at the high number of uncollected PVCs, accusing INEC of being part of the complicity.
The ADC chairman said the commission should make the registration system voter-friendly.
He said, “INEC is part of the complicity .You have to make the system voter friendly. To get to register takes a worker a whole day and you are now told to come back after a month or two to collect your PVC. The process is supposed to be easy. What kind of machines do we have that up till now you cannot register and within 24 hours get your card?
“If you know the kind of budget the institution gets, the process should be easier. Parties like ADC are focused on redefining our democracy and we know a lot of things can be done better. We know a lot of programmes will be voter-friendly.
“INEC is well structured. We have INEC at the national level. We have INEC at the state and local government levels. They can make the registration system work. They can make it function well. The registration exercise should be a continuous one and nobody should be disenfranchised. It should continue until the last day provided by the constitution.”
On the high number of yet to be collected PVCs, Nwosu said, “It is of immense concern. The ADC has reached out to its members and we are continuing our own sensitisation. But there is a problem with the way our system is working now. It does not encourage the voter. We want to change that paradigm. Look at what happened in Rivers State’s election. People with voter’s cards were not allowed to come out to vote. Did you see the shooting? In the last election in Lokoja, just for the House of Assembly bye – election, three people lost their lives. You know families will start asking themselves why should we lose our lives to vote? So, that is the problem.
“INEC should do more. At times, you send your party members to go and collect their voter’s cards and they will spend the whole week. INEC should make the system voter-friendly.
“In Nigeria today, it is only the ADC that has mobilised its state exco to go to every neighbourhood to get the voter’s cards. That is how we get over the hurdles confronting them in getting the cards. But the dynamics will change by 2019. When we get to government, we will create a process whereby getting voter’s cards will be the easiest thing. The system will be reconstructed by the ADC government. The leadership in a place justifies how the system works. When the leadership in place is bad, then you have a serious challenge. That is what we have now, because no matter the equipment you buy, when good leadership is lacking, nothing will work.”
