Lagos- Gov. Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State on Friday urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) not to disenfranchise voters in the state.
Fashola spoke with journalists at his polling unit G3, Ward E002, at State Junior Secondary School, Itolo, Surulere, Lagos, where he could not collect his PVC.
A notice attributed to INEC Lagos, pasted at the polling unit read “ we regret to inform you that those who registered in this polling unit do not have permanent voter cards.
“Please come back between Dec. 3rd and 8th 2014 for fresh registration’’.
Fashola said: “This should not be an attempt to disenfranchise our voters’ population in Lagos State.
“This is my polling unit where I have registered from year to year; when INEC said they were ready to do distribution of PVC we were happy and ready to have the card.
“Today is 28th of November, the residents were ready to collect their voters’ cards after the first postponement; then we discovered that all registrations had been cancelled.
“So, whatever might happen with our numbers and registered data, at least we have our temporary voters’ cards.
“They cannot run away from those cards; we would wait for INEC. Whether they like it or not, we would have election in 2015 because we are still alive we are not dead.’’
The Governor said failure by INEC to issue the cards was unacceptable and part of plans to disenfranchise voters in the state.
He appealed to the residents to keep their temporary voters cards as proof that they were eligible voters.
Fashola urged the residents not to relent in pursuing their PVC for them to participate in the 2015 general elections.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the second phase of the PVC distribution in the remaining nine local government areas of Lagos State got underway on Friday, with eligible voters having different experiences.
While some residents who turned up at polling units to collect their PVCs were successful, others were disappointed as they were asked to come back for re-registration.
Dr Adekunle Ogunmola, the Resident Electoral Commissioner of INEC, Lagos State, said that those in polling units where no PVC was distributed would have to undergo re-registration.
“We have stated that, even before we started the first distribution, that there are some people’s data that are lost completely in some polling units.
“So we are doing re-registration in those units when we start on Dec.3,” he said.
He said the PVCs for those affected would be ready before the end of January.
NAN reports that the PVC distribution in polling units will end in the nine local government areas on Nov. 30.
Thereafter, eligible voters whose names are on the biometric register will have to go to INEC offices in the local governments to pick them up.
The local governments are Alimosho, Amuwo-Odofin, Apapa, Badagry, Epe, Eti-Osa, Oshodi/Isolo, Somolu and Surulere.
INEC had earlier conducted the exercise in polling units in the other 11 LGAs of the state. (NAN)
