The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has replied the Director of Media and Publicity of the Peoples Democratic Party Presidential Campaign Organisation, Mr. Femi Fani-Kayode, on allegation that the commission was intentionally preventing intending voters from claiming their permanent voters’ cards.
Fani-Kayode had, at a press conference in Abuja on Wednesday, claimed that the PVCs were still in China, where they were produced, and had yet to be imported to Nigeria.
He had said, “We have information that the PVCs that Nigerians are scrambling for are not in Nigeria and will not arrive before the elections. These PVCs are still in China and (INEC Chairman, Prof. Attahiru) Jega has strategically delayed their arrival to suit his electioneering permutations.”
Reacting to the claim, the Chief Press Secretary to Jega, Mr. Kayode Idowu, told us that Fani-Kayode’s claims were invalid.
Idowu said, “It is they that should produce proof that we have not produced the cards, because INEC has produced those cards and put them in the public domain. Anybody who says it is not like that should produce proof.
“We have extended the collection deadline and people need to make use of that opportunity to come out. INEC cannot drag people out of their houses to collect their PVCs.
“It is for INEC and the media to continue to sound it in the ears of people that they need to make judicious use of this time; otherwise, anyone who does not collect his card will disenfranchise himself”.
