Themmy's : 2015 ELECTIONS WILL BE BY PVC

Prof. Attahiru Jega, addressing a press conference

In case you have forgotten, the Nigeria 2015 general elections for the Presidential, National Assembly, Governorship and States House of Assembly comes up early 2015.

According to the Secretary to the Commission, Mrs. Augusta C. Ogakwu, elections to the Office President and National Assembly is scheduled for the 14th of February while the Governorship and States of Assembly elections is scheduled for the 28th of February (See details of election schedule here Details of Election Schedule).

However, ahead of the 2015 general elections, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has warned that voters who fail to collect their Permanent Voter Cards by December 2014, “would be disenfranchised in 2015 election.” (Different dates apply to different states and time of collection)

INEC also vowed to deliver free, fair and credible elections in the next election as we have seen in recent elections conducted in Ekiti and Osun State.

The Director of Voter Registry in INEC, Engr. Emmanuel Akem; Director (Voter Education, Publicity, Gender and CSOs), Barrister. Oluwole Osaze Uzzi; and the commission’s Head of Department (FCT Voter Education), Mr. Okezie Nwankwo gave the warning during a one-day Town Hall meeting on the continuous voter registration and distribution of Permanent Voters Cards.

Akem said voters that just registered in the FCT would have their PVCs in 30 days, adding that the observations and complaints by prospective voters were being addressed.

He said, “All potential voters must have collected their PVCs before December 2014. Those that did not collect theirs will not vote in 2015. We had technical support deployed to the field to deal with the breakdown of machines during registration. This, among other measures, is being taken for the success of the exercise.”

On his part, Uzzi said Nigerians should not abandon the exercise in the hand of INEC officials alone as their active participation would make the work of the Commission easier and effective in the overall interest of the nation.

The question now is...What if my Permanent Voters Card is not found just like we had with the National Identity Card (Yes the previous one and not the one from NIMC that is yet to be distributed)?

Does that mean the voter will be disenfranchised?

This among other questions INEC needs to address otherwise it might reduce the credibility of the election that would be thought to be free and fair.