'Voters without permanent cards won’t vote'

The Independent National
Electoral Commission (INEC) on Monday
in Abuja said that voters who did not
collect their Permanent Voter Cards by
December 2014, would be
disenfranchised in the 2015 general
elections.

The commission also called on Nigerians
not to lose hope in its ability to deliver
free, fair and credible elections in 2015.
The Director of Voter Registry in INEC,
Emmanuel Akem; Director (Voter
Education, Publicity, Gender and CSOs),
Oluwole Uzzi; and the commission’s
Head of Department (FCT Voter
Education), Okezie Nwankwo, made the
appeal during a one-day Town Hall
meeting on the continuous voter
registration and distribution of
Permanent Voters Cards.

Akem said voters that just registered
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.”

Akem stated that although the CVR had
not commenced in the local
governments, they would start the
exercise as soon as the three phases of
the exercise were concluded across the
country.

Uzzi said Nigerians should not leave it all
alone for INEC as their active
participation would make the work of the
commission easier and effective in the
overall interest of the nation.