The All Progressives Congress (APC) has decried the delay in
distributing the permanent voter cards (PVCs) ahead of the August 9
governorship election in Osun State.
Its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, in a statement
in Lagos yesterday, warned that the delay might be a ploy to
disenfranchise voters.
“INEC has been painfully slow in processing the permanent voters
cards and one can only hope that the electoral body is not doing this
deliberately to disenfranchise voters, especially in opposition
strongholds.
“The slow processing of the permanent voter cards has in particular
hit the Central Senatorial District of the state and has affected those
who had registered as well as those who registered this year,” it said.
APC said INEC has continued to tell those who throng its offices in
the state that the cards are not ready, without giving an indication of
when they will be ready for collection.
“If INEC has no diabolical plan, then it should speed up the
processing of the permanent voter cards. We say this based on the
reported announcement by the REC in Osun State that whoever does not
possess a permanent voter card will not be allowed to vote in the August
9 election,” the party said.
It urged INEC to maintain its neutrality and ensure it does not do
anything that can affect the credibility of the commission or the
integrity of the election.
APC recalled that a few days before the Ekiti governorship election,
INEC Chairman Attahiru Jega had told stakeholders that the commission
would use colour-code ballot papers to ensure that ballots meant for one
local government are not taken to another.
“However, not only did INEC not use colour-coded ballot papers in the
Ekiti election, it never felt the need to explain its sudden
volte-face. This is a blow to the integrity of INEC and we hope it won’t
be repeated,” the party said.
The APC has raised the alarm over a multi-pronged strategy by the
federal authorities to skew the election in Osun State in favour of the
PDP, just as they allegedly did in Ekiti State last month.
According to the party, the dubious strategy by the federal
authorities involves using the military and other security agencies to
lock down the state, days ahead of voting as well as an alleged plan to
starve the state of funds so it cannot meet its obligations.
“Whereas Ekiti was locked down about three days to the election,
indications are that Osun will be locked down at least a week before the
state’s poll, while the security agencies will again be used to harass,
intimidate and arrest opposition politicians just as they did with
impunity in Ekiti.
“We are raising the alarm now so the world can see that any election
can only be described as free and fair if the entire process is
transparent and not skewed in favour of any of the parties. We insist
that election is a process, and that whatever happens on election day is
only, but a part of the whole.
“Therefore, we demand a level-playing field for all the candidates
before, during and after the Osun election. We reject any plan to use
the military and other security agencies to lock down the state and to
harass, intimidate and arrest opposition members.
We call on local and
international observers to take note of these and other anomalies ahead
of the Osun poll,” it said. (Nation)
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