(INEC’s claims of 87m PVCs in Nigeria and 6.2m as uncollected strange and far from the realities on the ground in the South)
Onitsha, Eastern Nigeria
Sat, 25st Feb 2023
The International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety) has uncompromisingly, constructively and transformatively paid its dues as far as the Nigeria’s 2023 Presidential Election process is concerned. But for our fierce and forensic advocacy including research and investigation into INEC’s litany of illegalities, many, if not most Nigerians and respected international democracy watchers and actors would not have known what INEC was actually cooking for Nigerians regarding the 2023 Presidential Poll especially in the areas of massive deprivation of millions of Nigerian citizens of voting age of their civic and fundamental human rights to participate and vote in the crucial poll. Intersociety’s forensic advocacy and that of CUPP also opened the eyes of many, if not most Nigerians and international lovers of democracy regarding how INEC went about with reckless abandon and impunity and disenfranchised tens of millions of electoral citizens of Nigeria and as if that was not enough, the Commission turned around to recruit and register as “PVC-Voters” millions of children of underage and illegal Muslim aliens from neighboring Nigerien, Chadian and Cameroonian republics and others from Muslim black African countries. Intersociety and CUPP advocacies also paid off when security agencies including the Military, the Customs and Immigration Services began to arrest thousands of illegal migrants coming into Nigeria or found in the country with INEC-issued PVCs, etc.
It saddens our heart that the “cash-cow” induced ‘Election Day Monitoring’ has robbed leading Democracy CSOs in Nigeria of their core advocacy duties which have to do with ensuring massive inclusion of most, if not all citizens of voting age especially during Continuous Voters’ Registration (CVR) and Distribution of Permanent Voters’ Cards-without discrimination as to their class, ethnicity, religion and places of birth and work. The “cash-cow” culture has incapacitated the leading Democracy CSOs in Nigeria and gagged and reduced them into appendages of INEC whereby they exist during electioneering as ‘INEC image launderers and outfits’. The “cash-cow” culture has also introduced thousands of mushroom election observer CSOs including those with specialty in praise-singing and democracy watchdog counterfeiting. In other words, these CSOs exist for purpose of having their cuts from multimillion dollar “electoral process support funds” from the international democracy funders and not for purpose of enlightening the citizens and independently and forensically monitoring the Commission and holding it responsible by ensuring that it uncompromisingly do the needful in the eyes of the law including the 1999 Constitution and the Electoral Act of 2022 as amended. Totality of the above has remained the bane of credible electoral process in Nigeria under INEC’s midwifery especially since 2015.
Finally, Intersociety has critically studied the eleventh hour release by INEC of the number of registered voters with PVCs in Nigeria as against those registered but not given. We make bold to say that INEC’s latest claims of “87,209.007 PVCs in Nigeria and 6,259.229 as uncollected” are strange and far from the realities on the ground especially in Southern part of the country. That INEC “distributed whopping 23.5m PVCs between 12th Dec 2022 and 5th Feb 2023; a period of 45 days”; whereas same INEC failed woefully to distribute 20m between 2015 and 2022” is very strange and totally unbelievable. It is most likely correct to say that ‘the INEC’s latest figure of collected PVCs and uncollected PVCs is padded for today’s presidential poll rigging or to mislead Nigerians and international critics into believing that “all is well with PVC distribution and that it was done without religious and ethnic discriminations”. Forensically speaking, the figures released by INEC are far from reflecting the realities on the ground whereby it is still validly estimated that over 10m registered voters in the South have not been issued with PVCs. The “31,690” allocated to Anambra State as those without PVCs is openly laughable. This is more so when thousands of PVCs belonging to voters in Nnewi North alone were few days ago found dumped by a local river bank; likewise tens of thousands lying uncollected till date in the State’s 21 LGA INEC offices. Going by INEC’s figure too, out of “the 6,259,229 nationally uncollected PVCs, only 2,083, 935 exist in the entire 19 Northern States and the FCT while whopping 4, 175, 294 exist in the 17 Southern States with South-West topping the list with 2, 423, 070, followed by South-South with 1, 156, 070 and South-East with “506, 154”. Therefore, it is most likely correct to say that most of the 2,083, 935 PVCs in the North belong to non natives and citizens of non Muslim faith; likewise substantial percentages, if not most of those in Lagos, Ogun and so on.
Signed
For: International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety)
Emeka Umeagbalasi (Boss), Chinwe Umeche Esquire (Head of Democracy) and Chidinma Udegbunam Esquire (Head of Publicity)