Protesters ask INEC to delay elections

Similar protest held on Monday at the INEC head office where a group of 50 youths demanded for the poll’s postponement citing difficulty in the distribution of Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs).Organisers of yesterday’s protest also said the elections should be pushed forward because about 40% of PVCs were yet to be distributed.They claimed that INEC […]

Similar protest held on Monday at the INEC head office where a group of 50 youths demanded for the poll’s postponement citing difficulty in the distribution of Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs).
Organisers of yesterday’s protest also said the elections should be pushed forward because about 40% of PVCs were yet to be distributed.
They claimed that INEC required 960,000 ad hoc staff but that up till now those staff had not been fully recruited.
 Should the election go ahead as planned, they argued, millions of Nigerian would be disenfranchised.
However, INEC said yesterday that all the 68.8 million PVCs had been received and distributed to the states.
Spokesperson to INEC chairman Kayode Idowu told Daily Trust on phone yesterday that “All the PVCs are available for collection. We send them to the states.
“By now, we have gone beyond 44 million. But the chair will be making public further figures, the up-to-date figures on Wednesday.”
INEC on Sunday extended the period for the collection of the PVCs to February 8.
The protesters first gathered at the Unity Fountain and marched to the commission holding banners and placards some of which carried inscription such as: “An injustice to one is an injustice to all; “INEC do the right thing;”  “We demand for the extension of election to allow Nigerians exercise their franchise;” “Election is for general participation, not for selective few; “Don’t disenfranchise Nigerians.”
The youths identified themselves as members of the Forum for Democratic Change, led by Solomon Chuks.
Having submitted written demands to INEC, they then marched back to the Unity Fountain where money was shared and members disappeared instantly.
In an interview with Daily Trust, one of the protesters who identified himself as Moses said they were conveyed to the INEC headquarters from Masaka and promised between N4,000 – N5,000 by the coordinator.
“We protested to tell INEC to shift the elections so that everybody would have the chance to vote. Even though it is commendable that INEC has increased the collection period, but I have not yet collected my own card. If they shift the election, it would be valuable for people like me to collect their PVC.
“It is not a matter of money. We participated in this protest to help our forum. But we have not yet been paid. I don’t know how much they are going to give us.
“I am thinking they would pay me like N4,000 or N5,000.
But the coordinator, Chuks, told Daily Trust that they were motivated to lead a “procession” to INEC to demand postponement of the polls over the fear of disenfranchisement of Nigerians.
“Nobody has given me any money. Anybody who said he has given me any money should come out and say so. My organisation is a credible organisation. We obtained permission from SSS, from the police …because we are about to be disenfranchised.
“I want to correct one impression. This is not a protest. It is a procession to register the grievances of the Nigerian masses as regards the coming election. The Nigerian masses believe that what is worth doing is worth doing well.”
When reminded of the extension of the PVCs collection period by INEC, he said “It is not only about the PVC. For instance, the INEC told us that it is going to recruit about 960,000 ad hoc staff and up to now those staff has not been fully recruited.
 “There is no time anymore to recruit these staff and train them for the use of this Data Capturing Machine. Now if you have just about 12 days to go, and these people have not been trained, they don’t know how to do it, how do we know that these people would be able to handle these things?
“If INEC did not stop the elections, there is possibility of any loser to come out tomorrow and go to court and begin to chant ‘my people were disenfranchised, that is why I did not win and they begin a fresh crisis, which we are trying to avoid.
“This is the reason why we say before this crisis begins, let us address this issue. It will cost INEC nothing to shift this election. We are not saying they should shift the day of the inauguration, no. but they should shift election to give themselves opportunity.
 “I am talking on behalf of aggrieved Nigerians; Nigerians who are about to be disenfranchised. An injustice to one is an injustice to all. A threat to justice here is a threat to justice everywhere. If justice is threatened in Abuja here, it will enter to my village.”
The All Progressives Congress (APC) had recently alleged strongly condemned the reported plan by the advocates of the postponement of next month’s general elections to sponsor protests across the country against INEC as a way of forcing the commission to shift the elections, scheduled for Feb. 14th and 28th.