2023: INEC should intensify effort in registration, distribution of PVCs ― Pearse

A chieftain of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Lagos State, and a Senatorial hopeful, Dr Adetokunbo Pearse, has urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to intensify effort in the registration and distribution of Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) so that many Nigerians will not be disenfranchised in the 2023 General Elections.

Pearse made this call, while briefing newsmen on the effort made by his group, Reset Lagos PDP, to ensure more voters were registered and those who had not got their PVCs get them before the expiration of deadline for collecting them for the 2023 polls.

Dr Pearse, who is also a former governorship candidate in the state, said it was appalling that many people had applied for PVC but were denied, while those who were given temporary voter cards were denied PVCs after several visits to the INEC office to get them, describing the Commission’s continuous PVC application exercise as a sham.

“INEC’s continuous PVC application exercise is a sham because while INEC encourages people to apply, it does not treat their applications seriously,” he said.

The party chieftain recalled his own personal experience, saying he had, in the last three years, been trying to upgrade his temporary voter card to PVC, but to no avail, even as he noted that there were a lot of people having similar experience in Lagos State.

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Dr Pearse, while lamenting that updating information such as change of status, address and others were equally made difficult, however, suggested that for distribution of PVCs should be decentralised in order to make the exercise effective and efficient.

“Instead of depending on INEC head office, Abuja to produce the PVCs, other areas should be empowered to produce the cards,” he said.

This was just as Pearse urged INEC to engage the services courier company in distributing the PVCs.

The party chieftain, who noted that not allowing direct primaries makes the electorate lose interest in the voting process, further suggested several other methods, saying that areas, where PVCs can be collected, should be increased, adding that those with temporary voter cards should be allowed to vote since they were denied of their PVCs.

Besides, Pearse canvassed that other means of identification like Driver’s Licence, National Identity Card, among others should be accepted as means of voting, even as he suggested that polling units should be increased to reduce the stress the electorate were subjected to on election day.