The Authority of the Nigerian Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) and the traditional rulers have sought an extension of Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) registration by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
This appeal comes up as the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) deadline draws to a close by Sunday, July 31, 2022, which INEC earlier extended.
The Senior Special Assistant to the FCT Minister on Community Relations, Yamawo Tanko, appealed on Friday when he visited the palaces of Ona of Abaji, Yunusa Baba, and the Se’peyi of Garki Usman Nga-Kupi to assess the level of the PVC registration exercise.
Yamawo explained that the administration was concerned over the free and fair exercise and would constantly evolve measures to ease the registration.
He explained that the exercise was slow in the territory because of few data capture machines in circulation, and he said the registration should be extended by another two weeks.
The Minister’s aide said without a voter’s card, Abuja residents would not select the people of their choice to represent them.
He says, “We are visiting palace to palace to sensitise them on the issue of voter registration.
“The registration is in progress, and it will likely close tomorrow. We want the traditional rulers to mobilise their people to come out en mass to register.
“The machines are not enough, even the available ones are slow.
“If you go to the registration centre, people are stranded with no machines to capture them. Therefore, we are calling on INEC to extend the registration.
“It’s not as if people are not coming out, but the machines are not enough, so it is difficult to capture the number of voters that come out.
“How can one person spend 4-6 days registering for PVC? Yet the person is not registered.
“We are calling on INEC to extend the registration so that everybody within the voting age will be registered.
“Allowing people to register will help them elect a person of their choice during elections. Without voter card, no body will elect a good leader,” Yamawo said.
Responding, the Se’peyi of Garki Usman Nga-Kupi, urged FCT Administration to liaise with INEC and extend the registration exercise for people to participate.
“July 31 is too close; it should be extended. If the registration closes tomorrow or Sunday, that means an adequate result will not be achieved. Most of our people live in rural areas and the means of communication is very poor, you can’t reach them immediately,” he noted.
On issues to be corrected, Nga-Kupi said: “The machines brought to us are not enough; some come from villages every day but can’t be registered because of the challenges.
It takes up to five and six days before they can be registered. Therefore, INEC should extend the PVC’s registration”.
S.O
